THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 

AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


ENDOWED  BY  THE 

DIALECTIC  AND  PHILANTHROPIC 

SOCIETIES 


I 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


10000671088 


Yours  truly, 
THOMAS  W.  BURTON,  M.  D. 


What  Experience  Has 
Taught  Me 


An  Autfltograpljg 

OF 

THOMAS  WILLIAM  BURTON 

Doctor  of  Medicine,  Springfield,  Ohio 


Cincinnati 

Press  of  Jennings  and  Graham 


THE  LIBRARY 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill 


http://archive.org/details/whatexperiencehaburt 


Co  the  JMemory  of  JMy  Mother 

Though  thirty-eight  years  have  come 

and  gone 
Since  I  have  seen  her  face, 
And  still  that  love  I  have  for  her, 

There  is  none  can  fill  her  place. 

Her  prayers  to  God  for  me  she  sent 

When  I  was  but  a  youth, 
That  I  may  be  a  man  of  worth, 

Love  God,  and  speak  the  truth. 

Her  spirit  whispers  to  me  still 

From  that  eternal  bliss, 
Do  right,  my  boy,  while  there  on  earth, 

So  you  may  come  to  this. 

—Thomas  W.  Burton,  M.  D. 


Copyrighted  June  13th  1910 

-VlLLXAJt  BTTHTOjr,  M  D. 

808  w    '  i ,  Ohio. 


Preface 

My  knowledge  of  the  literary  world  being 
very  limited,  and  knowing  the  numberless  valu- 
able productions  which  have  been  and  are  being 
sent  broadcast  throughout  the  world  from  the 
greatest  minds,  touching  every  phase  of  human 
existence,  of  every  clime,  and  on  every  subject 
imaginable,  make  me  feel  abashed  to  offer  to  the 
public  this  book, 

"What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me;" 

but  as  God  gave  me  this  inspiration  to  make  an 
effort  to  do  something  for  the  purpose  of  en- 
couraging those  who  may  be  less  fortunate  than 
myself,  I  shall  tell  my  own  story,  and  in  my 
own  way,  as  I  saw  and  experienced  it.  It  shall 
be  the  aim  and  object  of  this  book  to  point  out 
things  which  are  beneficial  and  practicable. 
Yours  very  truly, 

Thomas  W.  Burton,  M.  D. 

5 


Introduction 


By  way  of  introduction  to  the  reading  public 
of  Dr.  Thomas  W.  Burton,  the  author  of  this 
book,  I  desire  to  say  that  the  effort  that  is  made 
a  success,  though  it  may  be  opposed  by  diffi- 
culties, encourages  many  a  hitherto  despondent 
one. 

Encouragement  is  what  humanity  stands  in 
need  of,  and  especially  those  who  have  not  been 
in  the  midst  of  the  most  favorable  surroundings 
for  mental  and  moral  development.  I  am  sure 
that  any  one  reading  this  volume  will  find  much 
to  inspire  him  to  earnest  and  continued  effort. 

We  have  here  the  history  of  a  man  who,  like 
Frederick  Douglass  and  Booker  T.  Washing- 
ton, has  come  up  from  obscurity  and  by  dint  of 
hard  study  and  honesty,  and  above  all  by  being 
a  man  of  God,  has  come  to  honorable  distinc- 
tion. 

7 


8  Introduction 

I  cheerfully  present  Dr.  Thomas  W.  Bur- 
ton for  the  emulation  of  our  young  men.  Go 
thou  and  do  likewise. 

John  Wesley  Gaza  way. 

August  26, 1907, 

St.  Paul  A.  M.  E.  Church, 

Zanesville,  Ohio. 


Contents 


PAGE 


I.   Birth  and  Parents,         -         -         -     15 
II.   Boyhood  at  the  Old  Homestead,         25 

III.  My  First  Experience  in  Working 

for  Wages,  -         -         -         -         -     37 

IV.  Off  for  Berea  College,  Ky.,     -         47 

V.   Back  to  Refinement  Again,   -         -     57 

VI.   First  Negro  Medical  Society  in 

Ohio,  -  67 

VII.   Member  of  Faculty,  Curry  In- 
stitute,        -         -         -         -         -     83 

VIII.    Sent  as  a  Delegate  to  National 

Negro  Business  League,  -         95 

IX.   As  a  Christian  Worker,         -         -  111 

X.   People  Should  Think  For 

Themselves,     -        -        -        -       121 

9 


Illustrations 


Thomas  W.  Burton,  M.  D.,  -  -  Frontispiece  ^ 
The  Old  Log  Cabin  in  Which  Thomas  was  Born,  -  16 
The  Big  House  Where  Thomas's  Owners  Lived,  -  20 
Thomas  Hauling  Hay  from  the  Meadow  to  the  Barn,  26 
Rev.  John  G.  Fee,  Founder  of  Berea  College,  Ken- 
tucky, 1858, -  30 

Mrs.  Matilda  H.  Fee,          -----  31 

Thomas  Off  for  Berea  College,  Ky.,  January  1,  1881,  48 

Waco,  Ky.,  School,  Taught  by  Thomas,  1885-1886,  58 
Thomas  Receiving  the  Degree  of  M.  D.,  March  24, 

1892, 60 

Range  of  Mounds  Near  Newark,  Ohio,         -  62 
Professor  E.  W.  B.  Curry,  the  Negro  Orator  and 

Educator,         -------54 

Thomas  Presiding  Over  the  Ohio  State  Association,  68 

Dr.  Horace  R.  Hawkins,  Xenia,  O.,  Post-Graduate,  76 

Thomas  Reducing  a  Dislocated  Arm,     -         -         -  81 

Thomas  Removing  a  Fibro-Cystic  Tumor,  84 

Thomas  Reading  a  Paper  at  Put-in-Bay,  Ohio,       -  86 

Dr.  William  Chavis,         ------  90 

Dr.  Thomas  W.  Burton  and  Family,    -         -         -  112 

11 


12  Illustrations 

Facing 
Page 

Dr.  Thomas  W.  Burton's  Residence,  Springfield,  O.,      114 

Dr.  Thomas  W.  Burton  Having  the  Connubial  Knot 

Tied,    --------  118 

A  Group  of  Members  of  the  Ohio  State  Medical 

Association,      -------     122 

Dr.  Burton  Performing  an  Autopsy  on  the  Largest 

Woman  in  Springfield,  ...         -  124 


Birth  and  Parents 


CHAPTER  I 
BIRTH  AND  PARENTS 

I  haye  been  often  asked  by  my  friends  why 
I  did  not  write  a  book.  I  felt  as  though  I  had 
not  accomplished  anything  for  which  to  write 
a  book.  Then  I  thought  perhaps  I  might  drop 
a  word  of  inspiration  to  those  who  may  be  less 
fortunate  than  myself,  as  it  is  my  aim  always  to 
help,  and  not  to  hinder. 

I  was  born  May  4,  1860,  in  Madison  County, 
Kentucky,  a  little  way  from  Richmond  (its 
county  seat)  and  near  the  banks  of  Tates  Creek 
and  Shallow  Ford.  My  father  and  mother  were 
slaves  at  the  time  of  my  birth.  My  father's 
name  was  Edward,  and  the  name  of  my  mother 
was  Eliza.  I  do  n't  remember  very  much  about 
my  father,  because  he  died  when  I  was  only  five 
years  of  age.  I  remember  more  about  my 
mother,  because  I  was  nine  years  of  age  when 
she  died.     My  father  and  mother  were  blessed 

15 


16       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

with  fifteen  children,  of  which  I  was  the 
youngest. 

There  were  other  slaves  on  the  place  besides 
our  family.  My  mother  could  weave,  and  did 
the  weaving  for  those  who  were  on  the  place. 
I  can  remember  seeing  mother  sitting  at  her 
loom,  day  after  day,  weaving  the  blue  and  brown 
jeans  for  the  men  folks,  and  the  linsey  and  tow- 
linen  for  the  women  and  children.  In  summer 
time  I  wore  only  one  garment,  and  that  was  a 
tow-linen  shirt.  It  was  made  something  on  the 
order  of  the  Mother  Hubbard,  and  was  very  cool 
and  nice,  too. 

My  father  and  mother  were  not  educated. 
They  knew  nothing  about  books,  only  my  mother 
knew  her  alphabet;  and  that  she  taught  me,  and 
is  about  all  I  knew  concerning  an  education  un- 
til I  became  twenty-one  years  of  age.  Mother 
was  a  good  woman;  she  was  a  member  of  the 
white  Christian  Church,  as  there  was  not  a  col- 
ored Church  in  that  neighborhood.  So  every 
Sunday  mother  would  take  us  children  to  Shal- 
low Ford  meeting-house,  known  as  Mt.  Gilead, 
until  I  was  a  big  boy.     The  first  two  or  three 


^    ..<?:>     I 


Birth  and  Parents  17 

rows  of  seats  from  the  door,  or  rear  of  the 
church,  were  the  places  where  the  colored  people 
had  to  sit;  but  they  seemed  to  enjoy  the  services 
equally  as  well  as  the  whites,  and  I  am  sure  of 
one  thing,  aside  from  the  line  that  was  already 
drawn,  I  was  made  to  feel  more  welcome  there 
than  I  have  been  made  to  feel  in  some  of  my 
own  Churches  since  I  became  a  freeman.  I  have 
gone  into  Churches  where  the  people  stood  so 
very  far  apart  spiritually  that  it  would  make 
cold  chills  glide  stealthily  through  my  whole 
body. 

In  those  days  people  were  delighted  to  wel- 
come strangers  as  well  as  those  of  their  acquaint- 
ance in  the  church.  As  young  as  I  was,  I  re- 
alized that  I  was  a  slave  by  often  seeing  the 
older  folks  sitting  with  their  heads  close  to- 
gether, and  could  hear  them  whisper,  "Some  day 
I  believe  we  will  be  free."  We  children,  of 
course,  had  to  go  to  bed  with  the  chickens.  We 
were  put  in  a  trundle-bed,  and  then  pushed  un- 
der the  big  bed,  there  to  remain  until  next  morn- 
ing. Very  often  after  we  were  put  to  bed  we 
could  hear  the  older  folks  having  such  a  good 


18       What  Experience  Has  Taught  31  e 

feast,  and  it  would  smell — O,  my ! — so  delicious ; 
but  we  had  to  stay  under  there  just  the  same. 
There  was  a  counterpane  made  for  the  big  bed 
so  as  to  reach  the  floor,  and  when  it  was  pulled 
down  we  little  ones  could  not  see  out. 

The  old  log-cabin  in  which  I  was  born  con- 
sisted of  two  rooms;  one  down,  and  the  other  up. 
We  had  to  go  up  in  the  loft  by  means  of  a 
wooden  ladder.  In  the  lower  room  was  a  large 
fireplace  which  would  easily  heat  the  two  rooms. 
One  large  rock,  three  by  six  feet,  was  placed  in 
front  of  the  fire  for  a  hearth.  On  this  big  rock 
mother  would  do  a  great  deal  of  the  cooking  by 
pulling  the  big  coals  out  of  the  fireplace  and 
placing  them  under  the  skillets,  and  the  embers 
on  the  lids.  The  boils  and  stews  would  be  cooked 
in  pots  and  kettles,  which  hung  over  the  fire  on 
racks  and  tripods.  Two  windows  were  in  this 
cabin ;  one  in  the  lower  room,  and  the  other  above. 
There  were  two  doors,  both  below;  one  on  each 
side  of  the  house. 

About  one  hundred  feet  north  of  the  cabin 
stood,  and  still  stands,  the  big  house  in  which 
lived  our  owners.    Around  this  house  was  a  beau- 


Birth  and  Parents  19 

tiful  lawn.  The  building  was  in  a  commodious 
place  and  could  be  seen  from  afar  off.  How 
well  I  enjoyed  to  play  about  that  lawn  and  prem- 
ises! When  I  became  big  enough  to  do  chores 
I  was  kept  somewhat  busy  at  times. 

People  took  great  pride  in  training  children 
those  days,  as  they  best  could  and  knew  how. 
They  had  instilled  in  them  the  moral  virtues 
which  Solomon  so  beautifully  pointed  out: 
"Train  up  a  child  in  the  way  he  should  go,  and 
when  he  is  old,  he  will  not  depart  from  it"  (Prov. 
22:  6) .  Some  people  of  to-day  think  if  they  are 
a  little  strict  on  their  children  they  will  either 
offend  the  child  or  discourage  it.  And  the  child, 
of  course,  will  soon  learn  to  take  advantage  of 
its  parents'  leniency  and,  as  it  grows  older  and 
wiser,  it  will  and  does  in  reality  offend  and  dis- 
courage its  parents.  "Chasten  thy  son  while 
there  is  hope,  and  let  not  thy  soul  spare  for  his 
crying."  (Prov.  19:  8.)  God  corrects  His  chil- 
dren because  He  loves  them,  and  not  because  He 
has  the  power  to  treat  them  cruelly.  There  is 
only  one  being  who  really  does  meanness  for  the 
fun  there  is  in  it,  and  that  is  the  devil.    "With- 


20       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

hold  not  correction  from  the  child,  for  if  thou 
beatest  him  with  a  rod,  he  shall  not  die."  (Prov. 
23:13.)  If  a  child  is  brought  up  carelessly, 
evidently  he  will  transact  business  carelessly 
through  life  and  become  a  dwarf  in  the  commer- 
cial world.  If  a  mother  is  telling  her  neighbor 
something  which  took  place  the  day  before,  per- 
haps, one  of  her  children  is  apt  to  take  the  words 
from  her  mouth  and  say,  "That  is  not  the  way, 
mother;  it  was  such  and  such  a  way."  The 
mother,  of  course,  thinking  it  cute  in  the  child, 
will  give  way  and  let  the  child  have  the  floor. 
Then  the  mother  begins  to  tell  the  cute  and  great 
things  the  child  has  done,  in  the  presence  of  the 
child.  In  my  childhood  days,  when  the  old  folks 
had  company  one  would  not  know  that  there  was 
a  child  on  the  place  unless  they  saw  us.  Espe- 
cially when  they  were  talking,  there  was  no  dan- 
ger of  the  children  chipping  in.  If  we  were  too 
loud  or  boisterous,  just  a  look  or  pointing  of  the 
finger  was  enough.  A  child  is  often  spoiled  now- 
adays by  the  parents  threatening  it  so  very  much, 
but  never  putting  those  threats  into  execution. 
Knowing  the  fact  that  it  has  been  getting  out 


S^^xl 


Birth  and  Parents  21 

of  mischief  so  easily,  it  grows  up  caring  but  lit- 
tle for  obligations.  "Correct  thy  son,  and  he 
shall  give  thee  rest;  yea,  he  shall  give  delight 
unto  thy  soul."     (Prov.  29: 17.) 

Parents,  be  positive,  but  not  cruel;  for  these 
are  God's  jewels.  They  are  the  future  genera- 
tion, and  are  at  your  mercy  to  mold  or  shape  in 
any  fashion  you  desire. 


Boyhood  at  the  Old  Homestead 


CHAPTER  II 

BOYHOOD  AT  THE  OLD  HOME- 
STEAD 

After  the  death  of  my  mother,  in  1869,  I 
still  remained  at  the  old  homstead  until  I  was 
sixteen  years  of  age,  working  for  what  I  could 
eat  and  wear.  I  did  not  know  what  it  was  to 
work  for  wages  until  I  left  the  place  to  stay. 
While  on  the  place  I  learned  to  do  all  kinds  of 
house  and  farm  work.  I  certainly  appreciate  the 
fact  that  I  can  do  all  of  these  things  even  to-day. 
The  man  who  can  do  these  things  is  somewhat 
independent,  even  though  he  may  not  have  a  dol- 
lar. There  were  no  schools  in  that  neighborhood 
for  colored  children,  and  of  course  I  had  no 
chance  to  get  an  education  at  that  time.  But 
there  was  a  college  twenty  miles  south  from 
where  I  lived,  known  as  Berea,  organized  in  1855 
by  that  fearless  and  devout  Christian  gentleman, 
Rev.  J.  G.  Fee,  for  men,  regardless  of  color  or 

25 


26       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

nationality.  Its  name  is  borrowed  from  that 
place  mentioned  in  the  New  Testament,  whose 
inhabitants  were  "more  noble  than  those  of  Thes- 
salonica,  because  they  searched  the  Scriptures 
daily."  It  had  the  words  on  the  college  seal  as 
a  motto:  "God  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  na- 
tions of  men."  I  could  hear  the  older  ones  about 
the  place  talking  about  that  school  so  very  much 
that  it  would  make  the  fire  of  inspiration  burn 
within  me.  Then,  on  the  other  hand,  I  would 
become  discouraged  when  the  sad  news  came  that 
the  Rev.  John  G.  Fee  was  being  mobbed  on  all 
sides  because  he  took  the  stand  he  did,  of  an  abo- 
litionist, and  established  a  mixed  school,  espe- 
cially in  a  slave  State.  Upon  one  occasion,  when 
Mr.  Fee  was  preaching  in  Madison  County,  near 
by,  on  the  subject  of  "Christian  Union,"  and  was 
accompanied  by  Robert  Jones,  a  native  of  the 
county,  and  Messrs.  Field  and  Marsh,  residents 
in  that  vicinity,  there  was  apprehension  of  dan- 
ger, and  Mr.  Fee  had  been  consulted  as  to  the 
propriety  of  carrying  guns.  He  said,  "No;  if 
I  am  disturbed  I  will  appeal  to  the  courts."  He 
believed  in  the  right  of  self-defense,  but  was  op- 


2 
> 

o 

c 

H 
O 

H 

> 


Boyhood  at  the  Old  Homestead  27 

posed  to  the  practice  of  carrying  arms,  and  be- 
lieved they  were  more  often  a  source  of  danger 
than  a  means  of  safety. 

The  sermon  had  commenced  when  a  mob  of 
sixty  men  with  pistols  and  guns  surrounded  the 
house.  One  came  in  and  said  to  Mr.  Fee,  "There 
are  men  here  who  wish  you  to  stop  and  come  out." 
He  replied,  "I  am  engaged  in  the  exercise  of  a 
Constitutional  right  and  a  religious  duty;  please 
do  not  interrupt  me,"  and  preached  on.  The 
man  went  out,  and  soon  two  others  returned  and 
demanded  that  he  come  out.  He  preached  on. 
They  seized  him  and  dragged  him  out,  no  resist- 
ance being  made.  Men  with  a  rope  swore  they 
would  hang  him  to  the  first  tree  unless  he  would 
promise  to  leave  the  county  and  never  return 
He  replied,  "I  am  in  your  hands;  I  would  not 
harm  you  if  you  harm  me;  the  responsibility  is 
with  you;  I  can  make  no  pledge;  duty  to  God 
and  my  country  forbid."  They  swore  they 
would  duck  him  in  the  Kentucky  River  as  long 
as  life  was  in  him  unless  he  would  promise  to 
leave  the  county.  He  said:  "I  am  a  native 
of  the  State.    I  believe  slavery  is  wrong.    I  am 


28       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

acting  for  the  good  of  my  country  and  all  her 
people.  You  will  know  my  motives  at  the  judg- 
ment." He  had  proceeded  but  a  few  moments 
when  one  exclaimed,  "We  didn't  come  here  to 
hear  a  sermon;  let  us  do  our  work."  They 
stripped  Robert  Jones  naked,  bent  him  down, 
and  gave  him  thirty-three  lashes  with  three  syca- 
more rods.  He  was  so  injured  that  he  could  not 
walk  the  next  day;  but  he  made  no  pledges  and 
did  not  leave.  They  said  to  Mr.  Fee,  "We  will 
give  you  five  hundred  lashes  if  you  do  not  leave 
the  county  and  promise  never  to  return."  He 
knelt  down  and  said,  "I  will  take  my  suffering; 
I  can  make  no  pledge."  Later  two  lawyers  were 
engaged  to  prosecute  in  behalf  of  him  and  Jones. 
The  mob  met  in  Richmond  and  swore  they  would 
give  five  hundred  lashes  to  any  lawyer  who  would 
prosecute  the  cases.  The  grand  jury  never  in- 
quired into  it.  This  is  one  of  many  such  mobs 
through  which  Rev.  John  G.  Fee  went  in  those 
days. 

The  nearest  I  got  to  go  to  school  was  when 
I  would  take  my  young  master  to  his  school,  a 
distance  of  about  two  miles,  on  horseback;  so  as 


Boyhood  at  the  Old  Homestead  29 

to  bring  the  horse  back,  that  he  might  be  used  for 
other  purposes,  such  as  going  to  the  grist  mill, 
plowing  the  corn,  and  going  errands.  Wherever 
I  went  I  had  to  get  back  before  night  came  on 
me  too  far,  as  the  Kuklux  were  quite  thick  in 
that  vicinity  and  did  a  great  deal  of  harm  to  the 
colored  people.  Kuklux  is  the  fantastic  name  of 
a  secret  society  which  was  organized  among  many 
Southern  secessionists  after  the  Civil  War  for 
the  purpose  of  overawing  Negroes  and  new- 
comers from  the  North  by  all  manner  of  violence, 
and  they  did  some  daring  and  hideous  things  to 
the  colored  people.  Sometimes  I  would  visit  my 
cousin  to  spend  the  night,  who  lived  not  far  away 
on  Shallow  Ford;  and  there  being  a  public  road 
alongside  the  creek,  about  nine  or  ten  o'clock  we 
would  hear  the  roaring,  thundering  sounds  from 
the  horses'  feet,  seemingly  about  two  thousand 
in  number.  When  they  came  near  some  people's 
houses  whose  lamps  and  candles  were  burning, 
they  would  shout,  "Lights  out!"  If  the  occu- 
pants of  the  house  did  not  extinguish  those  lights 
at  the  command  immediately,  a  bullet  from  with- 
out   would.      Of    course,    orders    were   usually 


30       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

obeyed.  It  was  the  usual  custom  to  go  to  peo- 
ple's houses  at  night,  and  see  them  greet  one  an- 
other in  the  dark,  as  there  were  no  lights  in  the 
house  except  that  which  came  from  the  fireplace, 
or  grease  lamps  which  gave  a  very  poor  light  at 
the  very  best;  and  by  the  use  of  the  latter  the 
house  was  so  impregnated  with  amorphous  car- 
bon that  it  would  make  it  a  little  unpleasant  for 
the  people  of  this  day  and  date.  And  yet,  by 
such  lights  they  would  enjoy  themselves  at 
dances,  parties  quilting  and  apple-peeling  in  the 
fall  of  the  year,  in  order  that  they  might  have 
dried  apples  for  the  winter.  Later  on,  after  the 
fear  of  the  Kuklux  had  somewhat  subsided,  there 
was  great  enjoyment  at  corn-shucking  in  the  fall 
of  the  year  by  the  light  of  the  moon.  From 
twenty-five  to  thirty  neighbormen  would  enter  a 
corn  field  and  husk  it  out  in  a  single  night. 
After  the  task  was  done  a  big  feast  would  fol- 
low. People  took  such  pride  in  those  days  in 
helping  one  another,  and  in  return  their  efforts 
were  appreciated. 

When  I  was  about  the  age  of  sixteen  years  I 
felt  as  though  I  ought  to  be  earning  some  pocket 


REV.  JOHN  G.  FEE, 
Founder  of  Berea  College,  Ky.,  1858. 


MRS.  MATILDA  H    FEE. 


Boyhood  at  the  Old  Homestead  31 

change,  so  as  to  be  like  some  of  the  rest  of  the 
boys  with  whom  I  was  associating.  And,  too, 
like  most  boys  at  that  age  who  are  inexperienced, 
I  wanted  to  leave  the  plantation  so  as  to  see  more 
of  the  world  and  its  doings,  but  did  n't  know  ex- 
actly how  to  go  about  it  to  get  away.  So  one 
day  I  made  the  old  boss  mad,  and  instead  of  him 
telling  me  to  leave,  he  simply  gave  me  a  good 
thrashing  and  told  me  to  go  to  work.  Delighted 
I  was  to  obey.  I  shall  never  forget  my  early 
training  on  the  farm.  Farming  in  those  days 
was  somewhat  rude,  and  seemed  to  those  who 
took  a  part  that  they  were  making  a  great  head- 
way. 

During  the  time  of  hay  harvest  several  men 
were  put  in  the  field  with  a  scythe  each,  who 
would  cut  the  hay.  Another  crew  of  men  would 
follow  these  with  two-tine  wooden  pitchforks, 
the  timber  of  which  was  either  dogwood,  beech, 
or  black  hickory.  These  pitchforks  were  prized 
very  highly  and  could  stand  the  test  of  strain 
really  better  than  our  most  modern  ones.  The 
men  would  take  these  forks  and  windrow  the  hay. 
After  this   was   done  they  would  put   it   into 


32       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

shocks,  and  then,  by  means  of  an  ox-cart,  would 
haul  it  near  the  edge  of  the  meadow,  and  there 
put  it  into  stacks. 

When  it  came  to  the  cutting  of  wheat,  rye, 
oats,  and  barley,  it  was  done  by  means  of  cradles. 
The  man  who  could  carry  the  cradle  day  after 
day,  all  through  harvest,  was  serviceable  to  the 
community  in  which  he  lived,  as  also  were  those 
who  could  handle  the  scythe  skillfully.  Few 
men  can  handle  a  scythe  successfully  so  as  to 
make  each  stroke  count  while  cutting  hay  or 
grass.  When  the  rye,  oats,  barley,  and  wheat 
crops  were  not  so  very  large,  and  the  men  pretty 
well  up  with  their  work,  they  would  thrash  out 
the  grain  by  means  of  hickory  sapplings.  These 
sapplings  were  cut  in  lengths  from  six  to  eight 
feet ;  the  small  branches,  of  course,  were  trimmed 
off  so  as  to  be  easily  manipulated,  and  about 
eighteen  inches  from  the  larger  end  the  sapplings 
were  made  flexible  by  pounding  on  them  with  a 
heavy  hammer  or  something  of  the  kind.  A  por- 
tion of  the  soil  was  scraped  away  so  as  to  re- 
semble a  cock-pit.  On  the  floor  of  this  was 
spread  a  large  sheet  or  canvas.    The  sheaves  of 


Boyhood  at  the  Old  Homestead  33 

the  grain  were  carefully  placed  one  by  the  other, 
the  heads  of  which  were  pointing  toward  the  cen- 
ter of  the  pit.  The  men  would  pound  on  the 
heads  of  the  sheaves  with  these  sapplings  until 
the  grain  was  thoroughly  threshed  out.  At  the 
same  time  the  straw  was  being  put  into  a  rick. 
To  separate  the  grain  from  the  chaff,  the  grain 
was  scooped  up  and  poured  into  the  hopper  of  a 
large  instrument  known  as  a  fan,  with  a  man  at 
the  crank.  Those  who  had  large  crops,  in  order 
to  thrash  the  grain,  would  make  a  ring  resem- 
bling a  circus  ring;  it  was  prepared  just  as  the 
above;  but  in  this  ring  horses  were  placed,  with 
boys  on  their  backs.  I  had  to  ride  in  one  of  those 
rings  till  I  was  sick  of  it.  It  seemed  as  though 
it  was  such  a  pleasure  to  work  on  the  farm  at 
that  time,  and  should  be  so  to-day.  After  the 
ground  was  broken  up  we  only  had  in  way  of 
small  plows  the  shovel,  double-shovel,  and  bull- 
tongue.  Whole  fields  of  corn  had  to  be  hoed  in 
those  days.  I  really  believe  that  the  corn  does 
better,  if  no  more  than  to  keep  it  clean  of  weeds. 


My  First  Experience  in  Working 
for  Wages 


CHAPTER  III 

MY  FIRST  EXPERIENCE  IN  WORK- 
ING FOR  WAGES 

After  leaving  my  old  homestead  I  hired  to 
a  man  to  work  on  a  farm  for  four  dollars  per 
month.  I  held  that  job  for  twelve  months.  For 
a  short  time  thereafter  I  fell  into  the  hands  of 
evil  associates,  and,  of  course,  inexperienced  and 
lacking  the  proper  training  early  in  life,  I  was 
led  off,  as  is  natural  for  man  to  love  darkness 
rather  than  light,  because  of  his  evil  deeds  (John 
3: 19),  I  got  out  of  work,  and  that  led  to  idle- 
ness; from  idleness  to  drunkenness.  I  used  to 
think  that  man  should  always  be  able  to  meet 
conditions  of  environment;  but  I  have  karned 
from  experience  that  environment  has  a  great 
deal  to  do  in  making  the  man,  especially  so  if 
the  man  is  ignorant  and  inexperienced.  There 
are  thousands   of   men   and   women  to-day   in 

prisons  who  would  not  be  there  if  at  certain 

37 


38       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

times  in  their  lives  they  could  have  gotten  a  few 
words  of  encouragement  from  those  who  were 
more  fortunate  than  themselves.  Not  every  man 
or  woman  you  see  in  low  places  or  in  bad  com- 
pany has  an  evil  heart  in  them.  Certainly  not. 
A  great  many  are  forced  into  these  places  on  ac- 
count of  their  environments,  and  while  they  be- 
come discouraged  and  remain  there,  a  good  many 
other  people  who  are  not  there  /with  these  un- 
fortunates but  who  are  just  as  bad  point  the 
finger  of  scorn  at  those  in  the  gutter  instead  of 
helping  them  out.  There  was  that  sinner  who 
went  of  her  own  accord  to  the  feast  which  Simon 
had  prepared  for  Jesus  Christ,  and  received  a 
blessing  because  she  had  the  right  kind  of  mo- 
tives and  heart  within  her.  (Luke  7:36-50.) 
Simon  himself  murmured  because  of  the  wom- 
an's former  character  and  reputation.  Man's 
mind  is  never  still;  it  is  always  busily  engaged. 
If  it  is  not  engaged  in  something  edifying,  it  is 
engaged  in  something  degrading. 

After  a  man  or  woman  has  a  certain  amount 
of  experience,  he  or  she  can  set  into  operation  vi- 
bratory forces  which  go  out  and  which  make  their 


First  Experience  Working  for  Wages     39 

impress  felt  somewhere,  and  which,  arising  into 
activity  or  uniting  with  other  forces,  set  about  to 
actualize  their  desires.  Our  thoughts  make  us 
what  we  are  here  and  hereafter.  Some  people 
plod  along  daily  without  thought,  care,  ambition, 
or  anxiety.  Of  course,  it  is  a  waste  of  time  to 
try  to  reform  such  people  as  those.  But  do  not 
judge  all  alike  because  they  are  all  in  the  same 
crowd;  but  rather  look  after  the  ones  who  are 
willing  to  listen  and  follow  a  good  advice  when 
given  at  the  right  time  and  in  the  right  way. 
I  say  at  the  right  time  and  in  the  right  way  be- 
cause those  people  can  not  be  won  at  all  times. 
"To  every  thing  there  is  a  season."  (Eccl.  3.) 
If  this  class  of  people  is  approached  in  the  right 
way,  then,  through  the  law  that  "like  builds  like," 
they  will  be  able  to  come  a  little  closer  to  it  the 
next  day,  and  still  closer  the  next,  and  the  next, 
until  sooner  or  later  comes  the  time  when  it  will 
become  natural  for  them  to  fall  into  the  right 
channel.  And  once  there,  they  very  often  be- 
come beacon  lights,  living  only  in  the  thought 
of  love  for  all.  And  while  they  live  in  the 
thought  of  love  for  all,  they  will  draw  love  to 


40       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

them  in  return.  But  the  one  who  lives  in  the 
thought  of  malice  or  hatred,  malice  and  hatred 
will  come  back  to  them. 

In  order  to  be  successful  in  life  one  should 
always  look  on  the  bright  side  of  life.  If  we 
dwell  upon  the  negative  side  it  will  prove  to  be 
,  destructive.  If  you  let  your  daily  talk  be  about 
sickness  and  disease,  you  will  do  yourself  harm 
and  those  also  who  listen  to  you.  This  has  ref- 
erence to  chronic  complainers.  But  the  young 
man  whose  mind  is  completely  unhinged  from 
the  effects  of  strong  drink  is  to  be  pitied. 
"There  is  a  way  which  seemeth  right  unto  a  man, 
but  the  end  thereof  are  the  ways  of  death." 
(Prov.  14:  12.)  This  opinion  was  one  under 
which  I  was  laboring  when  my  brain  was  in  a 
morbid  condition,  and  my  nervous  system,  owing 
to  the  absorption  of  alcohol  or  to  sympathy  with 
the  stomach,  was  stealing  my  intellectual  and 
moral  faculties  because  I  was  straying  from  that 
path  in  which  my  mother  started  me  in  youth. 
Strong  drink  was  eating  up  my  substances;  it 
was  devouring  my  health ;  it  was  gnawing  off  the 
fine  edges  of  my  sense  of  honor ;  in  short,  it  was 


First  Experience  Working  for  Wages     41 

ultimately  swallowing  me  down  body  and  soul. 
One  need  not  expect  an  inebriate  to  reform -by 
giving  him  punches,  knocks,  and  blows,  such  as 
I  received  when  in  that  predicament;  but  it  re- 
quires time  and  patience  and,  above  all,  self-will. 
We  are  morally  bound  by  our  profession  as 
Christians  to  throw  all  of  our  influence  against 
intemperance  in  every  form.  Evidently  we 
will  find  our  labors  ridiculed  and  our  efforts 
thwarted  by  those  whom  we  intend  to  benefit, 
like  Isaiah,  the  prophet  of  old;  but  we  should 
let  nothing  daunt  us  for  the  good  of  the  cause 
and  for  the  sake  of  our  Lord  and  Savior  Jesus 
Christ. 

The  world  is  certainly  full  of  temptations  of 
the  flesh,  and  we  are  certainly  our  brother's 
keeper ;  we  must  put  aside  strong  drink  in  every 
form :  it  is  an  enemy  to  mankind,  dragging  down 
the  weak  to  eternal  ruin.  No  one  can  live  to 
himself  alone.  Every  one  should  help  the  other. 
This  tests  one's  Christianity,  which  is  not  true 
and  sincere  if  it  does  not  mean  Christian  brother- 
hood. 

After  being  led  by  those  who  were  equally 


42       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

unfortunate  as  myself,  for  a  number  of  months, 
I  thought  that  I  would  get  me  another  job.  So 
another  man  hired  me  for  the  sum  of  eight  dol- 
lars per  month,  and  I  worked  for  him  for  that 
price  three  consecutive  years  as  a  farm  hand,  and 
thought  at  the  time  that  I  was  getting  pretty  fair 
wages ;  I  am  sure  that  I  was  doing  a  man's  work, 
and  felt  myself  much  of  a  man  physically. 

At  the  close  of  each  year  I  worked  for  that 
man  I  saved  the  better  part  of  my  earnings,  as 
I  did  not  need  many  clothes  while  I  was  working 
on  a  farm.  My  every-day  apparel  had  so  many 
patches  about  them  that  one  could  not  tell  the 
original  pattern,  especially  in  the  fall  of  the  year, 
during  corn-cutting  season.  Then  there  seemed 
to  have  come  over  me  another  state  of  mind:  to 
use  up  my  money  as  fast  as  I  earned  it ;  it  did  n't 
matter  at  what  I  was  working,  for  I  would  take 
my  little  drink  occasionally  when  I  was  not  on 
duty,  until  I  began  to  move  in  a  better  circle  of 
society,  when  I  became  spiritually-minded  and 
recognized  the  fact,  if  I  lived  in  that  thought,  it 
was  to  be  in  harmony  and  peace.  I  began  to 
realize  that  God  stood  ready  always  to  receive 


First  Experience  Working  for  Wages     43 

those  who  were  willing  to  come  to  Him  and  be 
accepted  as  His  children.  And  that  man  for- 
gets, but  God  never  does. 

So  early  in  the  spring  of  1880  I  was  con- 
verted to  God,  and  was  baptized  in  Burnum's 
Pond,  Richmond,  Ky.,  the  third  Sunday  in  June 
of  that  year,  by  the  Rev.  Madison  Campbell. 
After  that  I  started  out  with  a  higher  realization 
and  to  open  myself  more  fully  to  the  divine  in- 
flow, so  much  so  that  I  could  clearly  see  my  in- 
significance as  a  man.  The  young  lady  with 
whom  I  was  keeping  company  was  a  graduate 
from  the  high  school,  and  I  could  not  read  nor 
write.  I  began  to  think  that  was  an  awful  thing, 
and  so  it  was.  So  I  said  to  the  people  with  whom 
I  was  living  that  I  was  going  to  quit  drinking, 
and  save  up  my  money  and  go  to  school  and  get 
an  education,  so  as  to  be  like  other  young  men 
with  whom  I  was  then  associating.  Quite  a  few 
of  those  who  were  not  educated  themselves  would 
say  to  me,  "Tom,  I  hear  you  are  going  to  school!" 
And  when  I  would  answer  in  the  affirmative  they 
would  say:  "You  had  better  go  to  work  and  pay 
your  debts,  and  get  yourself  some  clothes,  be- 


44       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

cause  you  are  too  old  a  man  to  be  going  to  school. 
You  '11  never  learn  nothing."  But  I  had  my 
mind  made  up  to  go  to  school  and  let  drink  alone, 
and  nothing  was  going  to  stop  me  but  sickness 
or  death.  So  I  started  out  to  fulfill  part  of 
my  advice  in  the  way  of  paying  my  debts,  but 
had  no  time  to  save  money  sufficient  to  buy 
clothes  before  winter  term  opened  at  Berea  Col- 
lege, Kentucky,  for  that  was  a  place  I  had  been 
anxious  to  go  to  for  many  years,  and  now  was 
my  real  opportunity. 


Off  for  Berea  College,  Kentucky 


CHAPTER  IV 

OFF  FOR  BEREA  COLLEGE,  KY. 

It  was  during  the  month  of  January,  1881, 
I  started  for  Berea,  a  distance  of  fifteen  miles 
from  Richmond,  Ky.,  which  I  was  then  claim- 
ing as  my  home.  No  railroad  connected  the  two 
places  at  that  time,  nothing  but  a  hack  line,  which 
was  run  by  Mr.  Van  Winkle,  who  lived  in  Berea. 
The  fare  was  only  seventy-five  cents  one  way, 
but  I  thought  I  could  not  afford  to  pay  that ;  so 
I  started  out  the  Big  Hill  Pike,  walking,  wear- 
ing a  blue  jeans  suit,  slouch  hat,  and  stocky 
boots.  The  legs  of  my  pantaloons  were  so  small 
that  I  could  not  wear  them  on  the  outside  of  my 
big  boots,  therefore  I  just  simply  stuffed  them 
within  and  went  on.  A  carpet  bag  on  my  back, 
containing  a  few  articles,  and  nine  dollars  and 
seventy-five  cents  in  my  pocket,  I  reached  Berea 
College  at  nightfall  the  same  day  I  started. 
After  resting  over  night,  I  went  along  the  next 

47 


48       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

morning  with  a  lot  of  other  boys  to  the  treas- 
urer's office  to  matriculate  for  the  winter  term. 

At  that  time  a  student  could  work  at  the  col- 
lege, so  as  to  pay  a  part  of  his  schooling.  At 
Howard  Hall,  a  dormitory  for  the  boys,  was  a 
mess  club  run  by  those  who  were  not  able  to 
board  at  the  Ladies'  Hall,  the  regular  boarding 
place.  There  were  twenty-five  students  at  this 
mess  club  waiting  for  a  cook.  After  I  matricu- 
lated in  part,  and  returned  to  the  hall,  some  one 
asked  me  if  I  could  cook.  "Why,  sure  thing," 
I  remarked.  I  took  the  job  and  cooked  for  the 
boys  that  whole  term,  went  to  school,  and  did 
my  own  laundrying  on  Saturdays.  I  entered  the 
primary  department  and  learned  to  write  a  let- 
ter, and  received  an  answer  to  it  that  winter  for 
the  first  time  in  my  life.  May  4th  of  that  year 
(1881)  I  was  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  felt 
myself  very  important  because  I  could  read  and 
write  and  was  of  age. 

After  Commencement  of  that  year  I  went 
into  the  harvest  field  and  did  anything  my  hands 
could  find  to  do ;  so  when  fall  term  opened  I  was 
there  to  hear  the  first  stroke  of  the  old  college 


y 


Thomas  off  for  Berea  College,  Ky.,  January  1,  1881. 


Off  for  Berea  College,  Ky.  49 

bell.  I  then  entered  the  intermediate  depart- 
ment and  remained  in  school  the  fall  and  winter 
terms,  but  had  to  go  to  work  the  spring  term. 
I  left  with  the  determination  to  make  money 
enough  so  as  to  return  in  the  fall  and  remain  in 
school  the  whole  nine  months.  I  found  my  way 
to  Maysville,  Ky.,  and  there  I  worked  for  a 
contractor  by  the  name  of  Mr.  Tom  Curr.  He 
put  me  to  digging  sewers  with  a  lot  of  other  men, 
and  from  that  to  shoveling  coal  from  the  barges 
on  the  Ohio  River.  Thinking,  perhaps,  that  I 
could  make  more  clear  money  as  a  roustabout  on 
the  river,  I  got  me  a  job  as  roustabout  on  the 
Morning  Mail,  a  boat  then  running  between 
Maysville  and  Cincinnati.  That  job  reminded  me 
more  of  slavery  than  any  I  had  met  since  the 
real  days  of  slavery,  but  I  thought  I  could  stand 
anything  physically  that  any  other  man  could. 
I  worked  with  a  new  determination  and  returned 
to  Berea  that  fall  and  entered  the  normal  prepar- 
atory department,  but  had  to  leave  again  the  fol- 
lowing spring  term  because  my  money  ran  short. 
I  found  by  this  time  that  the  farther  advanced  I 
got  the  more  money  it  took  to  keep  me  in  school. 

4 


50       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

That  year  there  was  a  railroad  to  be  built  from 
Winchester,  Ky.,  down  to  and  across  the  Ken- 
tucky River;  up  through  Shear's  Bottom,  past 
the  Red  House  to  Richmond;  then  to  Berea, 
where  there  never  was  a  railroad  before;  and 
from  there  to  Round  Stone,  in  the  mountains. 
I  got  me  a  job  on  this  road  as  steel  driver  and 
helped  put  through  three  tunnels,  including  that 
one  in  Berea.  I  worked  at  this  job  six  months 
without  stopping  for  school  this  time.  And 
right  here,  again,  is  another  proof  that  environ- 
ment has  a  great  deal  to  do  in  shaping  the  man. 
While  all  of  our  advantages  are  to  be  im- 
proved, our  opportunities  to  be  enjoyed,  and  our 
responsibilities  to  be  met  and  discharged,  if  we 
are  negligent  of  our  Christian  duty  we  are  sure 
to  become  pessimists,  and  pessimism  leads  to 
weakness.  If  we  fail  in  caring  for  the  interest 
of  ourselves,  as  well  as  for  the  interest  of  our 
Maker,  we  must  receive  punishment.  It  is  not 
the  mere  possession  of  a  thing  that  works  for 
good,  but  it  is  the  use  to  which  we  put  it.  Ad- 
vantages, money,  and  health  amount  to  nothing 
unless  rightly  managed.     So  while  on  the  rail- 


Off  for  Berea  College,  Ky.  51 

road,  driving  steel,  associated  with  rough  fellows 
from  all  parts  of  the  country,  I  became  rough 
too,  to  a  certain  extent,  in  order  to  hold  my  own. 
Some  may  say  that  you  do  n't  have  to  be  rough 
because  you  are  thrown  in  rough  society.  I 
learned  from  experience  that  you  do  have  to  be- 
come rough,  and  very  rough,  too,  sometimes. 
Nearly  every  man,  and  boy,  too,  you  saw  would 
either  have  an  ugly-looking  knife  or  a  revolver, 
and  they  did  not  carry  them  for  fun.  After 
working  there  a  while,  and  after  seeing  and  ex- 
periencing a  few  things,  I  started  out  with  one 
revolver;  but  as  time  went  on  and  I  became  a 
little  more  experienced  in  that  business  I  carried 
a  pistol  on  each  hip,  and  a  free-for-all  fight  was 
no  more  than  a  game  of  baseball  would  be  to  a 
civilized  crowd.  An  officer  was  in  very  poor 
business  to  interfere  with  us  unless  he  caught  us 
unawares.  So  when  I  returned  to  school  the  fol- 
lowing winter  I  took  my  pistols  along,  of  course, 
with  my  reputation  as  a  "scrapper." 

There  was  a  white  man  who  lived  in  the  vil- 
lage near  the  school,  and  who,  too,  was  a  former 
classmate  of  mine.    He  turned  out  to  be  a  des- 


52       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

perado,  and  at  times  he  was  a  terror  to  the  town 
and  school.  His  brother  and  another  student 
had  a  misunderstanding  one  day.  The  brother 
of  the  desperado  told  his  side  of  the  affair  to 
suit  himself,  and  without  investigating  the  mat- 
ter the  desperado  said  he  was  going  to  kill  the 
student  at  first  sight ;  and  he  meant  it.  The  stu- 
dent did  not  know  the  desperado,  nor  did  the 
desperado  know  the  student.  And,  too,  the  stu- 
dent was  studying  for  the  ministry.  There  were 
three  white  merchants  who  heard  of  the  affair 
and  offered  the  student  revolvers ;  but  he  refused 
them,  saying,  "I  will  trust  in  the  Lord."  With 
an  oath  they  said,  "You  had  better  trust  in  these 
pistols,  because  that  man  means  to  kill  when  he 
says  he  is  going  to  kill."  Some  one  told  the  stu- 
dent to  ask  counsel  of  me  concerning  the  matter. 
By  that  time  the  student  was  getting  somewhat 
worked  up  over  the  matter.  So  on  Saturday 
afternoon  the  student  came  to  see  me.  After  he 
had  related  the  affair,  I  did  not  say  a  word,  but, 
knowing  the  desperado  as  I  did,  turned  to  my 
trunk,  took  out  one  of  my  best  pistols  (for  I 
had  three),  well  loaded,  handed  it  to  him,  and 


Off  for  Berea  College,  Ky.  53 

went  on,  and  would  not  listen  to  any  argument. 
With  reluctance  he  took  the  pistol  home.  Just 
before  Sunday-school  time  the  next  morning 
(for  we  all  had  to  go  to  Sunday-school)  the 
student  said  there  came  a  peculiar  feeling  over 
him,  such  as  he  had  never  felt  before;  and  that 
something  seemed  to  say  to  him,  "You  had  bet- 
ter put  that  pistol  up  your  coat  sleeve  when  you 
start  for  Sunday-school  this  morning,  because 
you  are  going  to  meet  your  antagonist."  The 
college  bell  began  to  peal  for  Sunday-school ;  the 
student  could  no  longer  remain  in  the  house,  and 
without  realizing  what  he  was  doing  he  shoved 
the  handle  of  the  pistol  up  his  sleeve,  manipulat- 
ing the  muzzle  with  the  fingers,  and  started  off 
for  Sunday-school.  About  one  hundred  yards 
away  from  the  house  he  noticed  two  persons  com- 
ing towards  him  riding  double  on  horseback,  and 
when  they  came  near  him  he  recognized  the  des- 
perado's brother.  As  soon  as  the  boy  saw  him 
he  shouted,  "There  he  is !"  The  desperado  then, 
with  an  oath,  began  to  make  his  usual  hip  move- 
ment; but  it  was  too  late,  the  student  was  too 
quick  for  him.    When  the  student  saw  the  han- 


54       What  Experience  Has  Taught  31  e 

die  of  the  desperado's  pistol  he  pointed  my  pistol 
in  the  desperado's  face  and  said:  "I  dare  you  to 
move  a  muscle.  If  you  do,  I  will  shoot  the  top 
of  j^our  head  off."    And  he  meant  what  he  said. 


Back  to  Refinement  Again 


CHAPTER  V 
BACK  TO  REFINEMENT  AGAIN 

After  I  had  entered  the  college  preparatory 
department  I  began  to  think  seriously  as  to  what 
my  future  mission  should  be,  and  in  order  to 
be  successful  in  life  I  must  have  God's  help.  So 
I  asked  God  to  reveal  to  me  what  He  would  like 
to  have  me  do.  There  was  a  day  set  apart  by 
the  county  superintendent  of  schools  for  all 
those  who  wished  to  teach  school  to  go  to  Rich- 
mond, Ivy.,  and  take  the  examination.  I  availed 
myself  of  the  opportunity  and  took  the  exami- 
nation, and  received  a  certificate.  I  taught  the 
school  at  Waco,  Ky.,  in  1885  and  1886,  but 
powders,  pills,  and  the  sciences  of  medicine  and 
surgery  kept  haunting  me. 

I  went  to  the  city  of  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  in 
1889  and  went  under  the  instructions  of  Dr. 
William  Chavis,  as  my  preceptor.  The  winter 
of  1890-91  was  spent  in  the  Medical  College  of 
Indiana.    The  term  of  1892  being  spent  in  the 

57 


58       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

Eclectic  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons, 
from  which  I  graduated  on  March  24,  1892.  I 
had  to  partly  work  my  way  through  the  Indian- 
apolis schools  by  waiting  table,  working  in  lum- 
ber yard  and  in  private  families.  Some  of  these 
families  certainly  made  me  toe  the  mark;  so 
much  so  that  at  one  place  were  two  girls  also 
working:  one  did  the  cooking  and  the  other  was 
the  nurse;  and,  of  course,  I  was  second  help. 
The  landlady's  mother  lived  with  her,  and  she  too 
kept  things  moving  along  with  such  rapidity  that 
the  following  verses  came  to  me: 

SERVANTS. 

I  am  the  second  help, 

While  Annie  is  the  cooh; 
Emma  sees  after  the  children. 

Then  the  old  woman  takes  a  look. 

She  looks  to  keep  us  busy — 
Good  deal  of  that  is  done — , 

Then  goes  back  in  a  pace 
As  though  she  Js  having  fun. 

She  then  reports  to  the  young  one, 

To  see  what  she  will  say; 
Then  it  comes  for  my  time 

To  drive  them  both  away. 


Back  to  Refinement  Again  59 

Down  in  town  we  will  go, 

To  see  the  styles  that  come, 
Stop  an  hour  a  place, 

Come  out,  and  yet  buy  none. 

Patience  and  spunk  a  man  requires 
To  be  in  a  coachman  s  place; 

But,  if  liberty  he  expects, 
Must  fight  to  win  the  race. 

Physically,  or  mentally,  if  required, — 

If  there  3s  no  other  way, — 
Let  them  know  that  you  are  a  man, 

And  that  you  Jre  there  to  stay. 

We  get  very  mad  and  vexed  sometimes, 
And  declare,  by  the  way,  we  will  go; 

But  toil  on  another  day, 
And  not  a  word  of  it  so. 

The  work,  the  work,  I  have  to  do, 

Both  out  of  doors  and  in; 
Go  to  the  barn,  hook  up  old  Kate, 

To  drive  away  'gain. 

I  feel  as  though  a  slave  sometimes, 

But  little  joy  I  see; 
Just  toil  on  from  sun  to  sun, 

As  busy  as  a  bee. 


60       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

And  so  it  goes  every  day, 

Going  on  our  feet; 
But  when  it  conies  to  the  table, 

We  have  but  little  to  eat. 

Such  as  apples,  oranges,  and  bananas, 

Those  we  never  see, 
Only  with  her  in  passing 

Behind  the  lock  and  key. 

It  seems  as  though  I  am  getting  fat; 

It  Js  not  from  what  I  eat, — 
I  wash  a  rig  once  a  day, 

Maybe  from  my  wet  feet. 

My  rubber  soles  are  full  of  holes, 
He  knows  about  the  leaks; 

Yet  I  wash  away  once  a  day, 
Clear  on  for  several  weeks. 

The  young  one  is  the  meaner, 
To  speak  the  truth  outright, 

In  stinginess  and  closeness; 
She  's  seldom  out  of  sight. 

I  shall  go  in  a  little  while, 

The  girls  may  do  as  they  please; 

I  am  going  to  study  the  science, 
And  then  I  shall  be  at  ease. 


THOMAS  RECEIVING  THE  DEGREE  AS  M.  D., 

From  the  Eclectic  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons, 

Indianapolis,  Ind.,  March  24,  1892. 


Back  to  Refinement  Again  61 

After  I  became  a  full-fledged  "M.  D."  I 
left  Indianapolis  for  Springfield,  Ohio,  April  5, 

1892,  and  started  in  the  practice  of  medicine  and 
surgery  for  the  first  time  on  my  own  responsi- 
bility, full  of  theory  and  vigor.     On  August  3, 

1893,  I  was  married  to  Miss  Hattie  B.  Taylor, 
of  Cynthiana,  Ky.,  one  of  the  best  women  that 
ever  lived.  Nine  times  out  of  ten  if  I  follow 
her  advice  I  will  come  out  all  right;  and  when 
I  do  n't  I  always  come  out  all  wrong. 

The  same  year  of  my  marriage  I  was  com- 
missioned by  ex-President  William  McKinley, 
Jr.,  who  was  then  Ohio's  honored  Governor,  As- 
sistant Surgeon  of  the  Ninth  Battalion  Infan- 
try, Ohio  National  Guard.  This  position  car- 
ried with  it  the  rank  of  Captain.  That  year  we 
camped  at  Newark,  Ohio,  and  on  our  return  I 
made  the  following  report: 

Springfield,  Ohio,  Sept.  8,  1893. 
Major  Scott  Martin,  Commanding  Ninth  Bat- 
talion Infantry ,  O.  N.  G.,  Springfield,  Ohio. 
Sir:   I  have  the  honor  and  pleasure  to  make 
the  following  report  of  the  sanitary  condition 
and  surroundings  of  the  Ninth  Battalion  Infan- 


62       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

try,  O.  N".  G.,  during  its  encampment  at  New- 
ark, the  State  of  Ohio,  County  of  Licking,  from 
August  24th  to  29th,  inclusive.  The  camp  was 
situated  in  and  behind  a  beautiful  range  of 
mounds,  which  were  prepared  by  the  Mound 
Builders,  thus  making  a  substantial  fortification. 
The  health  of  the  Battalion  was  very  good,  with 
exception  of  a  few  cases  of  cholera  morbus.  The 
provisions  made  for  the  medical  department 
were  very  good,  and  special  commendation  is  due 
to  the  Quartermaster  for  his  efficient  work.  We 
lack  a  hospital  corps.  Some  of  the  best,  purest, 
and  coolest  water  in  the  country  is  found  on 
these  camp  grounds.  The  camp  grounds  are 
somewhat  elevated,  thus  affording  a  very  good 
opportunity  for  drainage.  The  camp  was  illu- 
minated by  electric  lights,  thus  reminding  one 
of  being  in  a  city.  In  closing,  I  desire  to  say 
that  I  feel  greatly  under  obligations  to  Major 
Scott  Martin,  Commander  of  the  Battalion,  for 
the  kindness  and  interest  shown  by  him  to  the 
Battalion  in  general. 

Thomas  Wm.  Burton, 
Surgeon  Ninth  Battalion  Infantry,  O.  N.  G. 

Being  connected  with  the  soldier  boys  dur- 
ing the  time  Spain  governed  the  Island  of  Cuba, 


Back  to  Refinement  Again  63 

the  last  time  with  her  iron  and  blood-stained 
hand,  and  after  she  had  declared  war  with  the 
United  States,  filled  me  greatly  with  the  war 
spirit.  A  little  while  after  the  landing  of  Gen- 
eral Antonio  Maceo  from  Costa  Rica,  where  he 
was  then  living,  and  against  the  wishes  of  the 
Spaniards,  a  fierce  fight  followed,  in  which  sev- 
eral Cubans  were  killed.  For  some  time  after- 
wards the  Cubans  could  not  get  any  surgeons, 
nothing  but  nurses,  especially  for  General  An- 
tonio Maceo.  They  advertised  for  physicians 
and  surgeons.  I  fancied  that  I  would  appreci- 
ate being  General  Antonio  Maceo's  surgeon,  but 
another  was  the  successful  one.  About  the  mid- 
dle of  June,  1896,  when  the  Spanish- American 
War  was  at  its  hottest,  about  fifty  fearless 
young  men  came  to  me  to  be  examined  for  the 
purpose  of  mustering  into  a  company  which  I 
had  already  organized  in  part,  for  it  was  our 
intention  to  make  up  a  regiment,  and  we  suc- 
ceeded by  the  last  of  the  month  and  sent  the  fol- 
lowing letter  to  the  Adjutant  General  for  ad- 
mittance : 


64       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

Springfield,  Ohio,  July  1,  1896. 

Adjutant  General  of  Ohio  Axline, 

Columbus,  Ohio. 

Honorable  Sir:  We  the  citizens  of  Spring- 
field, County  of  Clarke,  State  of  Ohio,  do  re- 
spectfully petition  to  you,  as  a  body  of  organized 
men,  full  of  enthusiasm  and  patriotism,  that  we 
may  be  admitted  in  the  service  of  the  State  of 
Ohio  as  the  State  Militia  for  the  term  of  five 
years,  unless  sooner  discharged  in  accordance 
with  the  Militia  laws;  that  we  may  defend  her 
borders  and  repel  or  prevent  invasion ;  to  prevent 
and  suppress  riots  and  insurrections ;  to  maintain 
the  honor  and  integrity  of  our  State;  and  that 
we  will  diligently  strive  to  attain  the  greatest 
practical  correctness  and  efficiency  in  drill  and 
discipline,  and  that  we  will  perform  our  duties 
faithfully. 

Respectfully  yours,  submitted, 

Thomas  W.  Burton,  M.  D., 

Captain  Commanding. 


PROFESSOR  E.  W.  CURRY, 

The  Negro  Orator  and  Educator,  Founder  and  President 

of  the  Curry  School,  Urbana,  Ohio. 


First  Negro  Medical  Society  in  Ohio 


CHAPTER  VI 

FIRST  NEGRO  MEDICAL  SOCIETY 
IN  OHIO 

In  the  year  1897,  seeing  the  need  of  a  State 
medical  society  composed  of  Negro  physicians, 
my  friend  and  colleague,  Dr.  H.  R.  Hawkins,  of 
Xenia,  Ohio,  and  I  discussed  the  idea  of  such 
an  organization  and  issued  a  call  to  all  Negro 
physicians  and  surgeons  in  the  State  to  meet  in 
Xenia,  Ohio,  August  27,  1897.  After  the  or- 
ganization was  perfected  we  named  it  the  "Ohio 
Mutual  Medical  Association."  I  was  chosen  as 
its  chairman  for  the  ensuing  year,  and  after  I 
had  been  fully  installed  into  office  I  delivered  the 
following  address  in  response  to  the  address  of 
welcome,  to-wit: 

"The  Light  is  Just  Ahead  of  Us." 

In  behalf  of  the  medical  profession  of  Ohio 
and  these  gentlemen  here  assembled  on  this 
unique  occasion,  I  will  make  an  attempt  to  re- 

67 


68       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

spond  to  the  address  of  welcome.  This  assem- 
blage is  certainly  unique  because  here  are  gen- 
tlemen of  the  medical  profession  who  belong  to 
the  different  schools,  have  left  their  respective 
fields  of  labor  from  east,  west,  north,  and  south 
throughout  the  State  of  Ohio,  and  have  come  to- 
gether in  one  combined  force  for  the  betterment 
of  their  work,  morally,  socially,  and  intellec- 
tually. While  it  is  a  fact  that  the  enactment 
of  the  State  laws  and  the  establishment  of  the 
State  Board  of  Health  and  the  Board  of  Med- 
ical Registration  and  Examination  tends  to  in- 
duce higher  medical  education  generally,  yet  it 
is  necessary  for  the  Negro  doctor  to  organize, 
meet  often,  and  learn  to  control  himself  in  this 
direction. 

Some  may  tell  you  that  an  organization  of 
colored  men  in  Ohio  is  not  the  proper  thing,  that 
the  different  medical  societies  in  the  counties  and 
the  State  Medical  Society  will  admit  colored 
gentlemen  of  good  standing  in  medicine,  and 
that  we  are  drawing  the  line  on  ourselves;  but 
I  fail  to  see  it  in  that  light,  and  will  say  to  you 
that  that  is  one  of  the  reasons  why  the  Negro 
is  so  far  behind  to-day,  and  because  he  is  too 
dependent  and  not  enough  independent. 

Inasmuch  as  other  medical  societies  of  Ohio 


»   2 
£  5' 


3  2 

3  2 


o 
O   3 

0  "" 

-     *0 

1  3 


First  Negro  Medical  Society  in  Ohio     69 

will  admit  gentlemen  of  the  profession  in  good 
standing  among  them,  so  will  we;  and  there  will 
be  no  line  drawn  unless  an  individual  draws  it 
on  himself,  and  that  we  can  not  help. 

Negro  physicians  have  organized  State  Med- 
ical Associations  in  six  States  of  the  South,  as 
follows:  the  two  Carolinas,  Georgia,  Tennessee, 
Texas,  and  Florida.  What  have  we  Northern 
brethren  done  along  this  line?  It  might  have 
been  bigotry  and  prejudice  that  kept  the  schools 
apart  until  now;  but  I  venture  to  say,  in  behalf 
of  the  gentlemen  present,  that  there  is  neither 
bigotry  nor  prejudice  among  them,  and  that  they 
have  come  together  for  one  common  cause,  and 
that  is,  to  exchange  their  ideas  in  the  advance- 
ment in  science. 

The  question  arises,  Will  it  ever  be  that  med- 
icine will  be  one?  So  long  as  medicine  exists, 
physicians  will  differ;  but  while  that  is  true,  it 
is  not  impossible  for  medicine  to  be  one.  The 
more  I  practice  medicine  the  more  I  believe  that 
the  day  is  fast  approaching;  that  is  to  say,  it 
is  possible  for  medical  men  to  be  united,  with 
the  privilege  of  according  to  every  one  liberty 
of  opinion. 

As  far  as  science  is  concerned,  there  is  little 
opportunity  to  differ.     The  brighter  the  true 


70       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

light  of  science  shines,  the  further  will  bigotry 
and  prejudice  roll  into  oblivion.  The  walls  of 
paper  that  stand  between  parties  in  medicine  are 
being  perforated  and  torn  to  pieces;  yea,  the 
debris  will  be  blown  away  to  the  four  winds  of 
the  earth. 

You  will  not  give  up  your  principles;  you 
have  a  right  to  hold  fast  to  them.  Some  men 
have  suffered  greatly  for  the  faith  that  was  in 
them. 

Rev.  John  G.  Fee  has  been  mobbed  and  tor- 
tured a  score  of  times  for  the  faith  that  is  in 
him,  yet  he  has  liberty  of  conscience.  He  was 
driven  from  place  to  place,  but  there  was  an  in- 
dwelling conviction  and  a  satisfaction  of  right 
that  could  not  be  taken  from  him. 

The  day  is  coming  when  we  can  join  on  the 
sciences,  and  when  the  differences  of  opinion  on 
materia  medica  and  therapeutics  will  be  ac- 
counted for  only  as  common  differences  amongst 
men,  and  when  prejudice  and  intolerance  will 
melt  before  the  shining  rays  of  science  like  snow- 
flakes  before  the  scorching  sun. 

Our  practical  progress  must  hinge  upon  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  drugs,  so  as  to  raise  the 
sinking  constitution  from  the  mire  of  disease,  to 
give  the  slowing  pendulum  of  life  a  little  push, 


First  Negro  Medical  Society  in  Ohio     71 

to  spur  the  natural  recuperative  forces  on  to 
victory. 

We  should  not  confine  ourselves  to  text- 
book indication:  we  must  use  our  own  powers 
of  reasoning  and  observation  to  give  us  the 
proper  indications.  The  successful  physician 
must  be  a  free  thinker  and  an  earnest  investi- 
gator. 

The  facts  explain  the  power  of  habit.  The 
man  who  cultivates  the  best  side  of  his  nature 
finds  it  easy  to. do  good,  and  hard  to  do  evil; 
while  he  who  cultivates  his  worst  qualities  finds 
it  easy  to  do  wrong,  and  hard  to  do  right. 

The  surgeon  of  the  coming  half  century  will 
apply  his  rays  and  take  a  photograph  of  the 
bones,  and  by  the  aid  of  the  coming  electric  ap- 
paratus will  examine  the  condition  of  the  inter- 
nal organs  and  view  the  condition  of  the  stomach 
and  bowels  as  readily  as  he  now  views  the  pa- 
tient's tongue,  throat,  larynx,  and  the  eyes.  The 
deformities,  position  of  fragments  of  bone  in 
fractures,  and  dislocations,  and  all  foreign 
bodies  will  be  brought  plainly  to  view. 

Missiles  in  gunshot  wounds  will  be  revealed 
to  the  eye,  and  the  cruel,  death-dealing  probe  will 
be  relegated  to  the  instrument  case,  and  called 
forth  only  in  minor  cases  or  in  the  absence  of 
the  better  apparatus. 


72       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

The  physician  of  to-day  is  not  the  physician 
of  seventy-five  years  ago ;  neither  is  he  the  physi- 
cian of  seventy-five  years  hence.  Some  of  you, 
perhaps,  call  to  memory  some  of  the  modes  of 
practice  and  customs  of  the  first-named  period  of 
seventy-five  years  ago  and  have  some  knowledge 
of  the  previous  seventy-five  years. 

A  large  per  cent  of  the  physicians  had  com- 
paratively little  more  training  than  could  be 
gathered  from  a  few  medical  books  written  by 
the  physicians  of  foreign  lands,  or  perhaps  a 
few  months'  reading  in  the  office  of  some  doctor 
who  had  obtained  his  education  in  the  same  way, 
or  perhaps  one  term  of  lectures  of  sixteen  weeks 
in  a  medical  school. 

The  higher  medical  education  now  required 
of  physicians  is  working  wonderful  results,  and 
we  welcome  any  means  that  will  help  it  along. 
It  is  a  felicity  we  enjoy  in  common  to  be  citi- 
zens of  a  country  without  a  peer,  under  a  polit- 
ical order  whose  unrivaled  excellence  excites  the 
admiration  and  envy  of  the  world.  But  no 
man  should  be  placed  in  position  to  prescribe 
for  the  venerated  patient  whose  education,  ex- 
perience, and  training  have  not  in  some  degree 
qualified  him  to  comprehend  the  nature  of  the 
maladies  he  is  to  treat,  to  distinguish  the  chronic 


First  Negro  Medical  Society  in  Ohio     73 

diseases  of  the  body  politic  from  its  passing  in- 
flammation, the  growing  pains  of  a  vigorous  and 
lusty  life  from  the  violent  distempers  of  an  in- 
fected and  decaying  body.  He  should  have  that 
all-roundness  of  observation  which  comes  from 
a  knowledge  of  affairs  and  a  touch  of  elbows 
with  the  people.  He  should  not  be  content  with 
holding  right  opinions,  but  should  exert  himself 
to  make  them  prevalent. 

Your  success  in  the  practice  of  medicine  must 
depend  upon  practical  intellect,  inexhaustible  en- 
ergy, and  invincible  determination.  Your  labor 
must  continue  to  be  prodigious,  your  wisdom 
and  tact  equal  to  your  industry. 

Successful  men  do  not  owe  their  elevation  to 
accidents  or  tricks,  but  rather  to  their  patience 
and  persistent  energy.  The  field  of  medicine 
grows  prodigiously  every  year,  so  that  to-day  the 
strongest  minds  are  unable  to  grasp  the  innu- 
merable scientific  questions  in  medicine. 

Now,  gentlemen,  let  us  do  all  we  can  to  pro- 
mote the  method  of  curing  disease  and  to  in- 
struct those  less  consistent  in  practice  than  our- 
selves. We  should  be  thoroughly  honest  in  our 
convictions,  making  no  effort  to  appear  what 
we  are  not.  Never  be  influenced  by  any  but  the 
most  upright  and  conscientious  motives. 


74       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

Let  us  do  the  best  we  can  on  all  occasions, 
conscientiously  discharge  our  duties,  and  be  ever 
in  search  of  new  facts  that  may  benefit  our  pa- 
tients. Much  of  our  success  will  depend  on  our 
personal  qualities ;  and  intelligent  brain,  kind  na- 
ture, sympathetic  heart,  and  skilled  hand  must 
be  united.  A  man  who  can  enter  a  sickroom  and 
diffuse  about  him  a  sense  of  repose  and  confi- 
dence is  certain  of  increasing  his  practice  rap- 
idly. 

Association  Re-established. 

After  existing  about  two  years  the  Associa- 
tion became  defunct,  for  the  lack  of  interest 
taken  by  its  members.  Negro  physicians  and 
surgeons  at  that  time  in  the  State  of  Ohio  were 
scarce,  and  the  most  of  them  belonged  to  white 
associations  and  thought  it  useless  to  belong  to 
two  societies  of  the  same  kind ;  hence  it  was  hard 
to  get  them  to  see  the  need  of  their  own. 

In  the  meantime  I  connected  myself  with  the 
National  Medical  Association  and  was  made 
Vice-President  of  Ohio  from  that  grand  body 
which  met  in  Lexington,  Ky.,  in  1904.  It  was 
the  duty  of  the  Vice-President  from  each  State 
to  organize  his  or  her  State  in  which  they  lived, 
and  center  them  into  the  National. 


First  Negro  Medical  Society  in  Ohio     75 

The  National  Medical  Association  is  com- 
posed of  all  physicians,  dentists,  and  pharmacists 
who  are  graduates  of  reputable  schools,  who  have 
met  the  requirements  of  their  State  Boards,  and 
are  in  good  standing  in  their  local  organizations. 

The  winter  of  1905  I  issued  another  call  to 
all  Negro  physicians,  dentists,  and  pharmacists 
in  Ohio  (finding  sixty-five)  to  assemble  in  Sprin- 
field  the  second  Tuesday  in  May  for  the  purpose 
of  organizing  a  medical  society  composed  of  the 
above-named  branches.  Six  doctors,  together 
with  one  dentist,  came.  We  organized.  I  was 
elected  its  President,  and  we  held  sessions  for 
two  days,  which  were  very  interesting,  I  assure. 
During  our  session  I  made  the  following  ad- 
dress : 

"SCIENCE  DIFFERS  BUT  LITTLE." 

Doctors,  Ladies,  and  Gentlemen:  I  con- 
gratulate you  on  coming  here.  Your  leaving 
your  fields  of  labor  and  gathering  here  upon  this 
occasion  at  this  hour  means  a  step  forward  in 
the  advancement  of  medical  science  in  this  our 
beloved  State. 

If  we  form  only  a  nucleus  in  the  way  of  a 


76       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

State  Association,  and  keep  it  nurtured  for  one 
j^ear,  we  shall  have  a  foundation  on  which  to 
build  one  of  the  best  organizations  of  its  kind. 

You  need  not  fear  nor  be  dismayed,  for  you 
have  among  you  the  material  with  which  to  work. 
In  ability  you  are  second  to  none.  In  experi- 
ence you  have  shown  yourselves  equal  to  every 
emergency,  and  in  integrity  you  have  proved 
yourselves  a  credit  to  the  community  in  which 
you  live. 

To  be  a  successful  practitioner  one  must  at- 
tend State  and  National  Associations,  as  well  as 
peruse  his  journals.  If  any  one  fails  to  do  this, 
it  will  be  but  a  question  of  time  till  he  is  rele- 
gated to  the  rear,  to  a  place  where  he  is  best 
fitted. 

People  of  to-day  do  not  dwell  upon  the 
school  so  much  as  they  do  upon  the  individual. 
I  do  not  agree  with  Dr.  Vale  Osier,  who  is  a  Ca- 
nadian by  birth  and  an  American  only  by  adop- 
tion, when  he  says  that  "nothing  in  the  world  is 
accomplished  by  a  man  more  than  forty  years 
old,"  and  that  "men  of  sixty  should  be  retired  or 
chloroformed,"  and  that  "American  medical  col- 
leges are  teaching  hybrid  systems  of  medicine 
and  producing  ignorant  practitioners,"  and  that 
"Europe  is  far  ahead  of  the  United  States  in 


DR.  H.  R.  HAWKINS, 

Xenia,  Ohio. 

Post  Graduate,  Hahneman  College,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


First  Negro  Medical  Society  in  Ohio     77 

medical  universities."  Evidently  greater  strides 
in  medicine  and  surgery  have  been  made  in 
America  in  the  last  forty  years  than  in  Europe, 
and  by  this  we  mean  American  medicine  in  gen- 
eral. 

In  my  opinion  a  man  is  at  his  best  at  forty; 
but  we,  as  Negro  physicians,  dentists,  and  drug- 
gists, will  have  to  outlive  a  mountain  of  obstacles 
and  impediments.  A  third  of  the  patients  we 
chance  to  get  employ  us  on  probation  or  for  con- 
venience, and  we  are  not  kept  very  long  before 
we  are  discharged  and  one  of  the  opposite  race 
takes  our  place  and  holds  the  patients,  though 
the  time  may  be  long  or  short.  Therefore  he 
gets  both  money  and  credit.  It  has  been  my  ex- 
perience, whenever  these  changes  take  place  I  am 
not  aware  of  it  until  the  thing  has  been  done. 
How  shall  our  patients  be  taught  to  place  con- 
fidence in  us  as  practitioners?  How  shall  they 
be  taught  to  realize  that  you  are  a  master  of 
your  situation?  I  find  that  human  nature  is  the 
same  all  along  the  line  of  time.  As  far  back  as 
29  A.  D.,  when  Christ  was  performing  so  many 
miracles  before  the  eyes  of  the  people,  and  even 
while  He  was  passing  along  in  one  of  His  walks, 
perhaps  on  His  way  to  Mount  Olivet,  where  He 
frequently  went  for  a  time  of  quiet  meditation, 


78       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

He  saw  a  blind  man  sitting  by  the  roadside  and 
had  compassion  on  him,  touched  his  eyes,  and 
thus  restored  his  sight.  And  yet,  on  account  of 
this  antipathy  they  had  for  Him,  they  had  no 
confidence  in  Christ;  but  He  left  this  great  les- 
son for  us,  "I  must  work  the  works  of  Him  that 
sent  Me,  while  it  is  day:  the  night  cometh,  when 
no  man  can  work."  So,  whatever  may  be  said 
and  done  about  us,  we  should  strive  to  do  our 
duty  along  the  line  of  our  profession. 

It  is  not  at  all  times  we  treat  a  patient  the 
way  the  patient  or  his  friends  think  we  ought  to 
treat  them;  but  if  the  doctor  knows  that  he  is 
right  in  his  diagnosis  and  treatment,  he  should 
stick  to  his  tactics  or  quit  the  case.  It  will  be  bet- 
ter to  stop  in  time  than  to  be  sued  for  malprac- 
tice. 

There  was  a  time  before  we  could  stand 
alone,  when  it  was  necessary  to  have  some  out- 
sider see  to  it  that  we  did  our  work  well. 

The  physician  of  to-day  is  not  the  physician 
of  forty  years  ago,  neither  is  he  the  physician  of 
forty  years  hence.  As  far  as  science  is  con- 
cerned, there  is  little  opportunity  to  differ.  The 
brighter  the  true  light  of  science  shines,  the  far- 
ther will  bigotry  and  prejudice  roll  into  oblivion. 
The  walls  of  paper  that  stand  between  parties 


First  Negro  Medical  Society  in  Ohio     79 

in  medicine  are  being  perforated  and  torn  to 
pieces;  yea,  the  debris  will  be  blown  away  to  the 
four  winds  of  the  earth. 

The  day  is  coming  when  we  can  join  on  the 
sciences,  and  when  the  diff erences  of  opinion  on 
materia  medica  and  therapeutics  will  be  ac- 
counted only  as  common  differences  amongst 
men,  and  when  prejudice  and  intolerance  will 
melt  before  the  shining  rays  of  science  like  snow- 
flakes  before  the  scorching  sun.  Our  practical 
progress  must  hinge  upon  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  drugs,  so  as  to  raise  the  sinking  constitution 
from  the  mire  of  disease  to  give  the  slowing  pen- 
dulum of  life  a  little  push,  to  spur  the  natural 
recuperative  forces  on  to  victory. 

At  the  second  meeting,  in  May,  1906,  which 
was  held  in  Columbus,  we  were  very  much  en- 
•  couraged  on  account  of  the  increased  member- 
ship and  the  interest  shown  in  our  Association. 
At  the  close  of  the  second  day's  session  I  was 
again  elected  the  President  for  the  ensuing  year. 

May,  1907,  we  met  in  Cincinnati.  At  this 
meeting  some  of  the  best  representatives  in  the 
professions  of  medicine,  dentistry,  and  phar- 
macy were  present,  became  members,  and  took 


80       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

active  part  in  discussing  the  problems  of  their 
peculiar  work,  which  were  of  great  interest  to 
all  present.  At  the  close  of  the  last  day's  session 
the  plrysicians  of  Cincinnati  banqueted  us  at  the 
Douglass  Hotel.  We  sat  down  at  the  table  at 
ten  P.  M.,  and  got  up  at  three  next  morning. 
We  had  a  delightful  time,  I  assure  you.  At 
the  session  Dr.  Frank  W.  Johnson,  of  Cincin- 
nati, was  elected  President  for  the  ensuing  year. 

The  fourth  session  was  held  in  Dayton,  Ohio, 
May,  1908,  which  was  the  best  one  of  them  all. 
There  they  elected  Dr.  William  J.  Woodlin,  of 
Columbus,  to  the  chair  of  President. 

The  Association  will  hold  its  next  session  in 
Xenia  and  Wilberf  orce  the  second  week  in  June, 
1909. 

I  am  thankful  to  see  that  my  work  has  not 
been  spent  in  vain  along  this  line,  and  I  feel 
sure  that  the  interest  and  confidence  will  become 
more  established  at  each  session. 


Thomas  reducing  a  dislocated  arm  by  making  an  extension 
and  counter-extension  movements. 


Member  of  Faculty,  Curry  Institute 


*2i 


CHAPTER  VII 

MEMBER  OF  FACULTY,  CURRY 
INSTITUTE 

It  was  during  the  year  1896  that  I  was 
elected  as  a  member  of  the  Faculty  of  the  Curry 
Institute,  which  was  then  located  in  Mechanics- 
burg,  Ohio,  but  is  now  in  Urbana,  Ohio.  I  have 
been  connected  with  the  institute  in  some  way 
ever  since. 

Professor  E.  W.  B.  Curry,  its  founder,  de- 
serves great  credit  for  his  energetic  manner  and 
courage.  I  took  great  delight  in  helping  Pro- 
fessor Curry  because  he  was  a  young  man  and 
had  the  courage  to  manipulate  such  an  undertak- 
ing, and  has  fostered  his  plans  to  the  credit  of 
himself  and  all  those  who  have  seen  fit  to  aid 
him;  and  to-day  he  is  doing  a  great  work  in  Ur- 
bana along  educational  lines. 

When  I  was  first  connected  with  that  insti- 
tution I  was  elected  to  the  chair  of  Physiology. 

83  ^ 


84       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

A  great  many  people,  of  course,  criticised  the 
school  because  its  President  was  so  young  and 
because  there  were  so  few  students,  and  many 
other  things  were  said  then  that  would  not  be 
said  now.  One  person  criticised  the  professor 
and  his  school  to  me  to  such  an  extent  that  these 
verses  came  to  me: 

CEASE  NOT. 

Cease  not  to  strive  because  you  are  poor, 

Cease  not  to  do  the  light; 
Press  bravely  to  the  upward  mark 

With  vigor,  main,  and  might. 

Antagonized  you  will  be  on  every  hand 
On  account  of  your  wit  and  zeal; 

The  influence  of  your  mighty  power 
Forever  make  them  feel. 

The  work,  the  work,  we  ought  to  do 

In  this  our  native  land, 
Where  intelligence  seems  most  bright 

Of  all  the  place  for  man. 

Each  one  of  us  must  play  our  part, 

In  spite  of  what  they  say; 
Play  it  in  the  way  we  think  it  best, 

Play  it  in  our  own  way. 


Member  of  Faculty,,  Curry  Institute      85 

The  young  ambitious  Negro  boy 

Is  held  as  though  by  a  rope; 
He  struggles  hard  to  reach  the  goal 

Built  upon  nothing  but  hope. 

The  work  you  do  may  seem  very  small 
To  those  who  are  not  of  a  part; 

But  you  are  molding  character, 
Considering  from  whence  you  start. 

Before  entering  upon  my  work  there  I  gave 
the  students  a  talk  in  a  general  way,  of  which 
the  following  is  a  part: 

"Young  Men,  Be  Strong." 
Our  life  is  a  warfare;  our  days  are  but  few; 
our  pathway  is  so  obstructed  by  prejudice  and 
ocstracism  that  it  will  take  none  but  the  strong 
to  safely  reach  the  goal.  It  is  true  that  young 
men  must  have  encouragement  in  order  to  aid 
them  in  the  great  life-struggle. 

They  must  be  taught  by  kind  influence  and 
deeds,  and  not  governed  so  much  by  the  rod  of 
iron.    They  must  be  coaxed,  and  not  driven. 

Young  men  are  like  children,  in  that  they  are 
great  imitators.     If  the  majority  of  old  men 


86       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

who  are  refined  and  cultured  would  set  better  ex- 
amples and  lead  better  lives  themselves,  I  am 
sure  the  majority  of  young  men  would  imitate 
them.  How  encouraging  are  those  words  from 
the  First  Epistle  of  John,  "I  have  written  unto 
you,  young  men,  because  ye  are  strong!"  They 
were  strong  because  they  had  kept  the  faith  and 
overcome  the  wicked  ones. 

If  those  who  are  so  wrapped  up  in  faith  and 
righteousness  are  to  have  such  encouraging 
words,  how  much  more  ought  those  who  are  so 
unfortunate  as  to  be  deprived  of  those  golden 
opportunities ! 

Now,  young  men,  be  strong!  even  if  the 
world  hate  you,  for  God  is  no  respecter  of  per- 
sons. Paul,  in  his  letter  to  First  Timothy,  says, 
"For  the  love  of  money  is  the  root  of  all  evil." 
That  does  not  mean  because  you  are  young  you 
are  to  throw  away  your  money  or  spend  it  f  ool- 
ishly,  but  to  be  very  greedy  in  self -gain,  that 
"he  troubleth  his  own  house."    Prov.  15 :  27. 

You  will  find,  too,  that  it  takes  money  to 
help  make  you  strong  in  the  great  warfare  of 
life  as  well  as  in  good  behavior  and  education. 


Thomas  reading  a  paper  before  the  Ohio  State  Eclectic 

Medical  Association,  Put-m-Bay,  Ohio,  July,  _912. 

Thomas  the  only  colored  member. 


Member  of  Faculty,  Curry  Institute     87 

How  well  one  is  recognized  when  he  has  money ! 
and  how  much  despised  when  he  has  none!  "A 
good  man  leaveth  an  inheritance  to  his  children." 
Prov.  13:  22.  "But  he  that  loveth  pleasure  shall 
be  a  poor  man;  he  that  loveth  wine  and  oil  shall 
not  be  rich."     Prov.  21 :  17. 

As  you  grow  older  and  venture  into  business 
for  yourselves,  you  will  find  to  your  surprise  that 
your  troubles  have  just  begun.  Those  whom  you 
took  to  be  your  friends  will  also  treat  you  coolly 
and  say  discouraging  things  concerning  your  en- 
terprise, and  your  qualifications  and  fitness  for 
running  such  a  business. 

As  a  matter  of  course  they  will  stand  you  off 
for  some  of  your  goods  and  go  elsewhere  and 
pay  cash,  at  the  same  time  expecting  just  as 
much  from  you  as  from  the  man  who  received 
the  cash.  I  think  we  ought  to  study  the  young 
men  more.  No  one  can  be  a  successful  teacher 
until  he  first  learns  his  pupils,  for  no  two  have 
the  same  disposition.  After  we  have  learned 
them  as  we  should,  then  put  each  one  upon  his 
merit  and  worth,  and  push  him  from  one  good 
thing  to  another. 


88       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

During  the  year  1897  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
writing  a  few  articles  for  the  Eclectic  Medical 
Journal,  printed  monthly  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 
I  received  a  very  complimentary  letter  from  the 
editor  concerning  one  of  them,  which  was  writ- 
ten about  an  "Anencephalous  Monster,"  as  fol- 
lows: 

Cincinnati,  Ohio,  April  26,  1897. 
T.  W.  Burton,  M.  D. 

Dear  Doctor:  The  Academy  of  Medicine, 
Paris,  France,  has  noticed  your  article  in  our 
Journal,  which  is  a  very  high  honor,  indeed,  to 
you,  and  also  to  our  Journal.  They  beg  of  us 
that  we  send  them  three  photographs  of  the  spec- 
imen, from  which  they  can  make  suitable  cuts 
or  possibly  plaster  casts  for  their  museum. 

I  think  it  would  be  greatly  to  your  interest 
if  you  would  mail  me  the  three  photos  which 
were  especially  made  for  the  Helleburgh  Com- 
pany, who  make  the  cuts  for  us. 

In  regard  to  the  third  little  electro,  we  were 
under  the  impression  that  you  would  have  no 
use  for  it,  and  we  kept  it,  as  it  would  probably 
do  for  publication  for  some  book  in  the  future. 

Please  let  us  hear  from  you. 
Respectfully, 

J.  K.  Scudder,  M.  D. 


Member  of  Faculty,  Curry  Institute      89 

Since  I  have  been  in  the  practice  of  medicine 
and  surgery  I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  perform- 
ing both  minor  and  major  operations.  While  I 
like  to  operate,  I  am  not  an  alarmist.  I  find 
it  is  good  surgery  to  save  all  you  can.  A  piece 
of  a  finger  is  better  than  an  artificial  one.  The 
surgeon  should  give  the  fullest  amount  of  en- 
couragement to  his  nervous  and  timid  patients. 
The  surgeon  must  be  master  of  his  situation,  not 
excitable,  and  go  about  his  several  duties  in  a 
quiet  and  dignified  manner. 

Sometimes  developments  of  unexpected  com- 
plications arise  during  the  time  of  the  operation. 
If  these  occur,  the  surgeon  should  not  lose  his 
head. 

The  practice  of  medicine  is  a  peculiar  thing. 
A  patient  will  get  well  quicker  if  he  has  the 
physician  he  desires  to  treat  him.  I  believe  every 
one  ought  to  have  whom  he  wants  to  treat  him; 
but  very  often  the  friends  of  the  patient  or  an 
enemy  of  the  attending  physician  will,  during 
the  absence  of  the  doctor  in  charge,  call  in  an- 
other physician,  and  the  change  perhaps  will  do 
that  patient  harm.     And  the  nerson  who  will 


90       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

do  that  should  not  be  trusted  any  more  than  a 
thief  in  the  night.  Such  a  change  often  gives 
the  attending  physician  a  bad  name.  The  dura- 
tion of  certain  diseases  is  regulated  by  fixed 
laws.  They  will  not  end  until  after  the  lapse 
of  a  certain  number  of  days,  and  hardly  ever  ex- 
ceed this  period. 

Some  people  will  get  well  simply  by  sugges- 
tion ;  that  is,  by  telling  them  to  do  certain  things ; 
and  the  patient  believing  what  you  say  is  true, 
will  get  well.  It  seems  strange,  but  it  is  never- 
theless a  fact,  the  American  people  like  to  be 
humbugged. 

If  you  tell  some  people  the  truth,  and  tell 
them  for  their  own  good,  they  will  not  believe 
you,  simply  because  you  do  n't  look  to  suit  their 
fancy. 

I  have  often  thought,  and  think  now,  that 
the  devil  will  get  more  people  on  account  of 
prejudice  and  ostracism  which  they  carry  with 
them  daily  than  any  or  all  the  sins  they  commit. 

Irreverence  can  show  itself  in  many  ways. 
Pride  and  self-interest  must  give  way  to  great 
principles.    Inasmuch  as  each  one  has  his  or  her 


DR.  WILLIAM  CHAVIS, 
Dr.  Thomas  W.  Burton's  preceptor. 


Member  of  Faculty,  Curry  Institute      91 

work  in  the  world,  they  should  be  encouraged  to 
do  it.  It  is  not  always  easy  to  do  right,  I  admit ; 
but  to  whom  much  is  entrusted,  from  him  much 
is  expected.  But  man  lights  up  the  night,  that 
he  may  lengthen  day  in  his  effort  to  secure  that 
which  he  does  not  need,  and  murders  to  gain  it. 
He  slays  regardless  of  his  demands,  and  con- 
sumes regardless  of  his  needs.  All  for  money 
and  self. 


Sent  as  a  Delegate  to  National  Negro 
Business  League 


CHAPTER  VIII 

SENT  AS  A  DELEGATE  TO  NA- 
TIONAL NEGRO  BUSINESS  LEAGUE 

The  local  Business  League  in  Springfield 
felt  it  their  duty  to  send  a  delegate  to  the  Na- 
tional Negro  Business  League,  which  met  in  the 
city  of  Chicago,  111.,  in  1901,  and  the  honor  fell 
upon  me  to  represent  them  and  to  bring  back  a 
true  report  of  the  proceedings  of  that  session, 
which  I  did  as  follows: 

SECOND  ANNUAL  REPORT  OF  THE  NATIONAL  NEGRO 

BUSINESS  LEAGUE  IN  HANDEL  HALL, 

46-48  RANDOLPH  STREET. 

Chicago,  III.,  August  21-23,  1901. 
At  ten  o'clock,  A.  M.,  August  21st,  the  meet- 
ing was  called  to  order  by  A.  W.  F.  Taylor, 
President  of  a  local  League  in  Chicago.  Invo- 
cation by  Rev.  Dr.  J.  W.  E.  Bowen,  of  Ala- 
bama. After  which  an  address  of  welcome  on 
behalf  of  the  State  by  a  member  of  the  Gover- 
nor's staff  was  delivered;  this  address  was  short, 
but  interesting. 

95 


96       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

The  Governor,  Richard  Yates,  was  not  in  the 
State. 

An  address  of  welcome  on  behalf  of  the  city 
of  Chicago  was  to  have  been  delivered  by  the 
Mayor  of  this  city,  Hon.  Carter  H.  Harrison, 
and  he,  too,  was  out  of  the  city,  and  a  member 
of  his  staff  kindly  consented  to  address  us.  His 
talk  was  interesting  in  regard  to  the  progress 
the  Negro  is  making.  He  said  that  it  took  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race  four  hundred  years  to  ac- 
complish what  the  Negro  has  in  the  short  period 
of  time  he  has  been  free.  He  said  that  he  was 
a  Democrat,  but  not  one  of  those  Benjamin  Till- 
man kind.  He  scored  Mr.  Tillman  for  his  recent 
action,  and  remarks  on  lynching. 

Booker  T.  Washington  was  next  introduced, 
but  could  not  be  heard  for  a  long  time  on  account 
of  the  prolonged  applause.  After  a  time  he 
said:  "Ladies  and  Gentlemen, — This  is  not  a 
meeting  of  oratory  and  speech-making,  but  a 
meeting  of  workers.  Our  watchword  and  motto 
should  be,  'Forward,  March!'"  He  pointed  to 
the  place  of  the  first  meeting,  in  Boston,  last 
year,  with  pride,  because  it  was  the  place  where 
the  Negro  first  shed  his  blood  for  freedom. 
Then  he  spoke  in  the  highest  terms  of  Illinois, 
the  place  of  the  second  meeting,  the  home  of  the 


Delegate  to  National  Business  League    97 

great  emancipator.  "Again,  all  through  the  last 
year's  session  order  was  so  harmonious  that  not 
a  man  raised  to  the  point  of  order.  It  is  what 
we  do  that  makes  us  men  and  women,  and  what 
we  do  n't  do.  There  is  no  place  like  the  South, 
with  all  its  ups  and  downs,  which  affords  the 
Negro  such  excellent  opportunities.  The  Negro 
should  begin  at  the  bottom  and  go  up." 

It  was  said  by  one  during  the  session  that 
Washington  had  the  same  control  over  those  men 
and  women  that  brain  had  over  matter.  He 
could  handle  them  so  very  easily. 

Giles  B.  Jackson,  Esq.,  of  Richmond,  Va., 
gave  an  account  of  the  Business  League  in  Vir- 
ginia with  the  remarks,  "We  may  be  held  back, 
but  not  kept  back."  He  said  that  the  organiza- 
tion had  such  an  influence  in  Virginia  that  it 
caused  business  men  to  respect  them  perhaps 
where  they  would  not  otherwise. 

Rev.  W.  L.  Taylor,  Richmond,  Va.,  had  a 
very  interesting  paper  on  "Business  Features  of 
the  Order  of  True  Reformers,"  an  organization 
that  takes  in  children  from  three  to  fourteen 
years  old.  This  organization  was  started  in  1885 
and  has  since  banked  seven  million  dollars.  Dur- 
ing Cleveland's  last  administration  the  white 
banks  failed  to  cash  an  order  for  fifty  dollars. 


98       What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

The  School  Board  was  in  need  of  seventeen  thou- 
sand dollars.  They  telephoned  to  the  Negro 
bank  to  see  if  they  could  get  the  required 
amount.  The  answer  was  that  "you  can  get  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars."  They  telephoned 
again,  thinking  that  maybe  the  black  boys  were 
mistaken.  They  got  the  same  answer;  so  they 
came  to  the  Negro  bank  and  found  it  so  busy 
that  they  had  to  wait  some  time  before  they 
could  wait  on  them.  The  Board  presented  their 
check,  and  was  waited  upon  so  quickly  they 
were  so  struck  that  they  could  not  leave  for  some 
time,  watching  the  black  boys  do  business. 

This  bank  or  company  has  a  number  of  build- 
ings and  newspaper  plants,  a  mercantile  depart- 
ment which  brings  in  nineteen  thousand  dollars 
per  year,  and  an  old  folks'  department  worth 
fourteen  thousand  dollars  (a  farm).  In  each 
department  of  this  bank  their  books  must  show 
that  he  or  she  is  all  right,  and  not  his  or  her  ap- 
pearance. They  have  a  chief  over  all,  and  a 
man  who  is  called  "accountant."  These  two 
men  must  agree,  or  else  something  is  wrong. 
This  bank  does  nineteen  thousand  dollars'  worth 
of  business  per  week.  The  Board  of  Directors 
of  the  bank  is  not  satisfied  with  this;  they  make 
the  cashier  get  all  the  money  to  correspond  with 


Delegate  to  National  Business  League     99 

all  of  these  books  and  lay  it  on  the  table  every 
Saturday  and  show  to  those  present. 

Mr.  Taylor  says  that  we  are  too  ready  to 
criticise  one  another  in  business.  He  then  called 
his  private  secretary  to  stand  up,  who  is  just  a 
boy  of  nineteen  years  and  as  black  as  the  derby 
hat  he  wore.  Mr.  Taylor  says,  "Do  you  think 
that  there  is  any  white  blood  in  that  boy?" 

Mr.  J.  A.  Wilson,  of  Kansas  City,  Mo., 
spoke  of  what  the  Twin  City  Business  Associa- 
tion is  accomplishing;  he  spoke  of  the  progress 
and  various  kinds  of  businesses  the  Negro  is  do- 
ing in  that  city. 

Theodore  W.  Jones,  of  Chicago,  111.,  had  a 
paper  entitled  "Can  the  Negro  Succeed  as  a 
Business  Man?"  In  every  vocation  of  life  the 
Negro  needs  more  grit  and  backbone,  although 
he  has  come  from  the  slave  cabin  to  the  profes- 
sor's chair.  The  Negro  must  quit  stumbling 
over  impediments  of  his  own  and  go  forward. 

Evening  Session,  8  P.  M. 
The  Negro  Woman's  Business  Club  of  Chi- 
cago, and  its  achievements,  was  spoken  of  by 
Mrs.  Alberta  M.  Smith,  of  Chicago,  111.  The 
club  was  organized  in  1892  for  social,  political, 
and  industrial  purposes.  Membership  at  pres- 
ent numbering  14,015;  worth,  $3,000. 


100     What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

They  have  an  Old  Folks'  Home  connected 
with  it.  The  typewriting  alone  cost  one  hundred 
dollars  per  month.  She  insisted  on  us  all  to  be 
natural  and  not  put  on  so  as  to  pretend  we  are 
more  than  we  really  are. 

Mr.  Corbin,  of  Arkansas,  spoke  of  the 
wealth  of  the  Negro  there  and  in  the  South.  He 
said  that  one  Mr.  Wiley  Jones  was  the  richest 
man  there,  his  wealth  being  estimated  at  one 
hundred  million  dollars.  About  the  time  Mr. 
Corbin  finished  reading  his  paper  Mr.  Washing- 
ton received  a  telegram  from  President  McKin- 
ley,  congratulating  him  and  the  League.  It  was 
stated  by  Mr.  Washington  that  those  who  wish 
to  become  lifelong  members  of  the  League  could 
do  so  by  paying  twenty-five  dollars.  There 
were  several  who  did  so.  Also  several  of  the 
white  people  joined  as  lifelong  members. 

Judge  Gibbs,  of  Little  Rock,  Ark.,  who  is 
an  ex- judge  of  Madagascar,  spoke  of  his  start 
in  life  and  travels,  to  the  present.  He  spoke  of 
going  on  the  postmaster's  bond  in  Little  Rock, 
who  is  a  white  man,  for  forty  thousand  dollars. 
He  said,  "When  you  are  going  into  business  and 
fail,  again  try ;  if  you  fail  again,  try,  try ;  if  you 
fail  again,  try,  try,  try!" 

Mr.   Charles   Banks,   of   Clarksdale,   Miss., 


Delegate  to  National  Business  League  101 

gave  us  a  talk  on  the  merchandising.  He  dwelt 
to  a  great  extent  as  to  how  goods  should  be 
bought  and  sold,  and  our  places  of  business 
properly  kept.  He  has  increased  in  wealth 
enough  from  his  trade  as  a  merchant  for  his 
taxes  to  amount  to  three  hundred  dollars  per 
year. 

William  Oscar  Murphy,  of  Atlanta,  Ga., 
had  a  paper  on  "The  Grocery  Business."  He 
said  that  he  was  born  a  grocer  because  his  father 
was  keeping  a  grocery  when  he  was  born,  and 
to-day  he  has  property  worth  thirty-five  thou- 
sand dollars,  all  unincumbered. 

A.  N.  Johnson,  of  Mobile,  Ala.,  who  is  a 
druggist,  editor  of  a  weekly  newspaper,  and  an 
undertaker,  gave  us  an  interesting  talk  on  Ne- 
gro business  enterprises  of  Mobile.  Out  of 
thirty-six  clerks  in  the  postoffice  in  Mobile, 
twenty-eight  of  them  are  Negroes.  One  Negro 
named  Mr.  Peters,  by  the  way,  who  was  present 
at  the  meeting,  owns  forty-eight  houses  and  lots 
in  Mobile,  Ala.  The  rating  of  business  done  by 
Negroes  in  Mobile  in  the  various  businesses 
ranges  from  eight  dollars  to  seventy-five  dollars 
per  day.  One  Negro  in  the  furniture  business 
has  an  income  of  one  hundred  dollars  per  day. 


102     What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

Thursday  Morning,  10  O'Clock. 

Prayer  by  Rev.  Dr.  Morse,  of  Arkansas. 
The  doctor  is  also  a  business  man,  and  has  been 
for  twenty-five  years.  He  is  in  the  drygoods 
business.  In  a  town  of  three  thousand  inhabit- 
ants the  Negroes  are  in  forty-three  different 
kinds  of  business,  and  ask  for  a  reasonable  por- 
tion of  business,  not  all.  Reverses,  he  said,  come 
to  all  races.  So  when  they  fail,  they  should  try 
again. 

Dr.  Willis  S.  Stems  gave  us  a  talk  on  the 
drug  business.  The  doctor  is  located  in  Decatur, 
Ala.  He  said  that  there  is  in  the  State  of  Ala- 
bama an  association  composed  of  doctors  of 
medicine,  doctors  of  dental  surgery,  and  doctors 
of  pharmacy,  of  which  he  is  President.  The 
members  of  this  association  all  own  their  homes 
except  three. 

Mr.  Russell,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  gave  us  an 
interesting  talk  on  the  undertaking  business. 
He  started  in  business  in  1894  in  the  rear  of  an 
old  stable,  with  one  horse  and  a  spring  wagon. 
Not  one  of  the  other  undertakers  nor  stables 
would  hire  to  him  at  twenty-five  dollars  per  day, 
and  to-day  his  income  annually,  from  funerals 
alone,  amounts  to  over  twenty-five  thousand  dol- 
lars.   Since  he  became  an  undertaker  he  has  ed- 


Delegate  to  National  Business  League  103 

ucated  two  of  his  sisters ;  one  of  them  clerks  for 
him  in  the  undertaking  establishment,  and  the 
other  clerks  in  a  grocery,  also  owned  by  him. 

Mr.  G.  E.  Jones,  of  Little  Rock,  Ark.,  who 
owns  and  conducts  an  undertaking  establish- 
ment, a  livery  stable,  tailor  shop,  and  a  drug- 
store, and  also  a  business  block  known  as  the 
Jones  Block,  all  of  which  are  paid  for,  said  it 
really  seemed  for  a  while  that  no  race  had  any 
money  and  carried  on  any  business  but  the 
Negro. 

The  colored  business  women  of  the  East  were 
well  represented  by  Mrs.  Dora  A.  Miller,  Brook- 
lyn, N.  Y.  Mrs.  Miller  stated  that  they  have 
a  club,  the  membership  of  which  numbers  sev- 
enty-five women.  Every  member  of  this  club 
was  in  business  for  herself ;  such  as  regalia-mak- 
ing, grocery-keeping,  bakeries,  hand-painting, 
dye  houses,  ladies'  exchange,  chiropodist,  and  so 
on.  The  ladies'  exchange,  she  said,  found  many 
a  home  for  girls  who  could  not  find  work  them- 
selves. 

A  Mrs.  Lewis,  of  Springfield,  111.,  told  of 
her  start  in  the  hair-dressing  business  twenty-six 
years  ago  on  fifty  dollars,  and  has  saved  thirty- 
six  thousand  dollars  and  taught  others  the  trade. 

Mr.  Gilbert  C.  Harris,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  also 


104     What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

a  wigmaker  and  hair-dresser,  carried  a  capital 
stock  of  ten  thousand  dollars  in  the  hair  business, 
all  of  which  is  his. 

Walter  P.  Hall,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  had  a 
paper  on  the  "Game  and  Poultry  Business." 
This  business  brought  him  a  yearly  income  of 
fifty  to  seventy-five  thousand  dollars. 

Mrs.  Emma  L.  Pitts,  of  Macon,  Ga.,  told 
us  the  way  she  started  in  the  millinery  and  dress- 
making business.  She  said  that  her  husband 
died,  leaving  her  without  money,  and  her  health 
would  not  allow  her  to  take  in  washing;  so,  in 
order  to  help  several  girls  who  were  idle,  she 
started  in  the  business  on  nothing,  and  to-day 
she  employs  one  hundred  girls.  She  spoke  of 
wanting  to  raise  money  enough  to  put  into  her 
place  of  business  more  machinery.  So  very  ex- 
cellent was  her  paper,  as  soon  as  she  had  taken 
her  seat,  one  Mr.  Martin  Ferguson,  of  Jackson- 
ville, Fla.,  arose  with  a  fiery  speech  and,  holding 
up  a  five-dollar  bill,  said  that  there  ought  to  be 
thirty  men  in  the  house  who  would  give  five  dol- 
lars to  a  woman  who  had  the  courage  to  come 
all  the  way  from  Georgia  to  tell  us  what  she 
was  doing  there.  Mr.  Booker  T.  Washington 
and  two  other  men  gave  five  dollars  for  said 
purpose. 


Delegate  to  National  Business  League  105 

There  was  no  night  session  Thursday  even- 
ing, but  instead  there  was  a  banquet  tendered 
the  officers  and  delegates  at  First  Regiment  Ar- 
mory, at  Sixteenth  and  Michigan  Boulevard. 
Mr.  Washington  was  the  center  of  attraction. 
Twenty-five  thousand  people  were  present. 
After  the  speaking  the  platform  was  removed 
and  one  thousand  took  part  in  dancing  at  one 
time.  It  was  one  of  the  prettiest  sights  I  wit- 
nessed while  in  Chicago.  It  impressed  Mr. 
Washington  so  much  that  he  spoke  of  it  at  the 
next  day's  session. 

We  were  also  highly  entertained  by  another 
club,  known  as  the  Appomattox,  at  its  parlors, 
No.  3144  Wabash  Avenue. 

Friday  Morning,  10  O' Clock. 

Fred  D.  Patterson,  Greenfield,  Ohio,  gave 
an  interesting  talk  on  the  carriage  manufactur- 
ing. He  said  that  a  college  education  had  noth- 
ing to  do  with  making  a  successful  business  man. 
Often  he  thought  his  father  was  wrong,  but 
every  time  it  was  he  who  was  wrong,  and  his 
father  was  right.  He  finds,  in  carriage  making, 
it  takes  a  man  of  common  sense,  push,  and 
hustle. 

Mr.  Martin  Ferguson,  of  Jacksonville,  Fla., 


106     What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

told  of  his  experience  as  an  ice  dealer  and  in  the 
livery  stable  business.  He  started  on  nothing, 
but  now  owns  both  of  these  places  of  business. 

A.  M.  Boyd,  of  Nashville,  Tenn.,  told  how 
he  started  about  fifteen  years  ago  with  two  pen- 
cils and  paper,  and  to-day  he  has  one  of  the 
largest  printing  establishments  in  the  South. 
He  employs  125  men  and  women. 

The  election  of  officers  then  followed. 

Mr.  Fairweather,  of  Newport,  R.  I.,  a  black- 
smith; forty  years'  experience.  Out  of  sixty- 
five  horses  shod  by  him,  about  fifteen  belong  to 
Negroes.  He  said  that  the  Negro  North  has 
not  been  educated  up  to  patronize  one  another 
as  yet.  He  said  that  most  any  blacksmith  can 
put  a  shoe  on  a  horse;  but  when  it  comes  to  the 
scientific  part  of  shoeing,  very  few  can  do  that. 
When  it  comes  to  fast  trotting  horses,  to  keep 
them  from  forging  and  interfering,  it  is  more 
than  a  notion  to  stop  them. 

Mr.  J.  C.  Napier,  of  Nashville,  Tenn.,  gave 
an  interesting  talk  on  real  estate.  He  said  that 
prejudice  in  the  South  proved  an  advantage  to 
the  Negro  rather  than  a  hindrance. 

C.  H.  Smiley,  of  Chicago,  111.,  gave  us  an 
interesting  talk  on  catering.  He  said  that  he 
started  waiting  table  in  1890,  with  fifty  cents. 


Delegate  to  National  Business  League  107 

He  waited  on  a  lady  who  soon  took  a  trip  East, 
and  when  she  came  back  she  made  the  assertion 
that  there  was  only  one  man  in  Chicago  who 
could  serve  a  party,  and  that  was  a  black  man 
by  the  name  of  C.  H.  Smiley.  From  that  his 
fame  started.  He  spoke  of  his  linen,  among 
other  things.  He  has  napkins  from  two  dollars 
per  dozen  to  fifteen  dollars  a  piece;  tablecloths 
from  five  dollars  a  piece  to  eight  hundred  dollars 
a  piece.  His  wealth  is  now  estimated  at  two 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
visiting  his  place  of  business. 

Mr.  John  S.  Tramer,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa., 
said  that  he  would  rather  his  son  be  in  business 
for  himself  than  to  hold  a  government  position. 

Friday  afternoon  Mr.  Armour  chartered  a 
train  pulling  coaches  and  took  all  of  us  dele- 
gates, even  women  and  children,  free  of  charge, 
to  his  slaughterhouses  and  stockyards.  It  was 
the  most  interesting  sight  of  anything  I  saw 
while  in  Chicago.  They  kill  ten  thousand  hogs 
a  day  in  that  one  plant  alone ;  2,044  head  of  cat- 
tle a  day.  The  stockyards  of  Chicago  are  as 
large  as  Springfield. 

At  last  we  came  to  the  evening  session. 

One  Mr.  Clifford,  of  West  Virginia,  told  the 
League  that  where  he  lived  land  can  be  bought 


108     What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

for  fifty  to  seventy-five  cents  per  acre,  and  that 
there  is  enough  timber  on  top,  and  coal  in  the 
ground,  to  last  seventy-five  years.  He  urged  the 
League  to  buy  it. 

Mr.  T.  Thomas  Fortune,  editor  of  the  New 
York  Age j  of  New  York,  gave  us  an  interesting 
talk  on  "The  Logic  of  Business  Development." 

Isaiah  T.  Montgomery,  of  Mound  Bayou, 
Miss.,  gave  an  account  of  a  Negro  city  there, 
owned  and  controlled  by  Negroes. 

Rev.  S.  L.  Davis,  of  Hobson  City,  Ala.,  who 
is  also  the  Mayor  of  that  city,  told  us  about  the 
founding  of  the  Negro  city. 

The  Rev.  J.  W.  E.  Bowen,  of  Alabama, 
closed  with  a  stirring  and  forcible  address.  The 
session  closed  to  meet  in  Richmond,  Va.,  next 
year. 

Yours,  respectfully  submitted, 

Thomas  W.  Burton,  M.  D. 

Springfield,  Ohio. 


As  a  Christian  Worker 


CHAPTER  IX 
AS  A  CHRISTIAN  WORKER 

Certainly  we  are  to  profit  by  reading  the 
acts  of  others,  whether  they  are  right  or  wrong, 
good  or  bad.  History  may  be  defined  as  a  divine 
institution  which  was  intended  by  our  Maker  to 
assist  in  the  progress  of  developing  man. 

Very  often  by  reading  the  acts  of  others  has 
come  a  warning  to  me;  their  footprints  seen  in 
the  history  which  indicate  their  fate  tell  me  that 
a  like  fate  may  befall  me  should  the  precedents 
be  disregarded;  and  as  near  as  I  can  I  try  to 
follow  that  infallible  rule,  that  is:  Do  unto 
others  as  I  would  have  them  do  unto  me. 

One  of  the  greatest  pleasures  of  my  life  is 
Sunday-school  work.  Although  a  busy  medical 
practitioner,  unless  there  is  something  very  urg- 
ent, I  must  spend  the  Sunday-school  hour  with 
the  children  and  young  folks.     It  is  the  duty 

of  every  Christian  to  study  the  Book  of  books, 

in 


112     What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

which  is  the  Holy  Bible.  By  familiarizing  our- 
selves with  this  book,  by  studying  it  daily — 
which  one  will  have  to  do  in  order  to  become  fa- 
miliar with  it — then  we  will  depend  more  upon 
God  when  there  comes  a  succession  of  falls, 
fountain  of  tears,  upward  struggles  and  debased 
and  bleeding  heart,  and  not  tell  our  troubles  to 
man.  Man  may  mean  all  right,  but  he  has  an- 
other friend,  to  whom  he  will  divulge  your  se- 
crets, and  yet  at  the  same  time  he  is  supposed 
to  be  in  sympathy  with  you.  When  you  find 
yourself  deceived  you  will  think  of  the  words 
of  the  Psalmist  David  when  he  complaineth  of 
his  enemies'  treachery:  "Yea,  mine  own  familiar 
friend,  in  whom  I  trusted,  which  did  eat  of  my 
bread,  hath  lifted  up  his  heel  against  me.  But 
then,  O  Lord,  be  merciful  unto  me  and  raise 
me  up,  that  I  may  requite  them."  (Psalm  41: 
9,  10.) 

I  find,  if  we  live  as  God  would  like  to  have 
us  live,  when  the  storms  of  vexations,  disap- 
pointments, and  besetments  overtake  us,  if  we 
turn  to  this  blessed  Book  we  will  find  consola- 
tion, as  did  the  children  of  Israel  when  assured 


As  a  Christian  Worker  113 

by  Moses,  while  being  pursued  by  the  Egyp- 
tians, if  they  stand  still  they  will  see  the  salva- 
tion of  the  Lord  manifested.  (Ex.  14:13.) 
And  while  we  thus  divest  ourselves  of  all  intel- 
lectual pride  and  enter  into  the  realm  of  wisdom 
we  can  truly  say,  with  assurance,  "Her  ways  are 
ways  of  pleasantness,  and  all  her  paths  are 
peace."     (Prov.  3:17.) 

It  takes  men  and  women  of  moral  courage 
to  accomplish  these  things.  All  honor  to  our 
great  and  good  women,  who  are  doing  so  very 
much  for  our  young  people  as  well  as  our  older 
ones.  We  have  so  many  good  women  who  are 
well  informed  and  could  do  a  great  deal  for  the 
uplifting  of  our  young  people,  but  they  are  too 
timid  to  launch  out.  We  must  first  have  con- 
fidence in  ourselves,  then  by  our  works  and  deeds 
others  will  be  helped. 

I  admire  a  woman  who  delights  in  working 
with  the  hand  as  well  as  the  head ;  who,  when  she 
works,  has  something  to  show  for  her  labor;  and 
wherever  she  may  chance  to  be,  can  adapt  her- 
self to  the  surroundings,  and  there  remain  with- 
out assumption.    These  qualities  we  can  find  in 


114     What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

the  person  of  Mrs.  Henry  Linden,  of  Spring- 
field, Ohio,  who  is  the  author  of  "Scraps  of 
Time,  Etc.,"  and  who  deserves  great  commenda- 
tion for  what  she  has  accomplished  by  her  own 
efforts  and  energy. 

It  was  during  the  time  I  was  acting  super- 
intendent of  North  Street  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Sunday-school,  when  there  was  a 
Sinking  Fund  Society  organized  in  the  Sunday- 
school  for  the  purpose  of  helping  children  who 
could  not  come  to  the  Sunday-school  for  the  lack 
of  proper  clothing  and  encouragement.  After 
our  usual  collection  for  the  Sunday-school  there 
was  a  basket  passed,  marked  "Sinking  Fund," 
and  in  it  was  placed  one  cent  from  each  one 
present  (if  they  had  it),  and  this  money  was 
turned  over  to  the  treasurer  of  that  society, 
whose  officers  consisted  of  a  president,  secretary, 
and  treasurer. 

There  was  a  standing  lookout  committee, 
whose  duty  it  was  to  look  after  those  children 
who  were  so  unfortunate  as  not  to  have  suitable 
clothes  for  church  and  Sunday-school.  And  to 
my  surprise  we  found  dozens  of  children  who 


As  a  Christian  Worker  115 

did  not  and  do  not  go  to  any  Sunday-school  nor 
church.  Some  of  these  children  live  in  alleys, 
and  streets,  too,  a  distance  of  one  square  from 
the  church.  I  find  it  so  in  every  city.  In  the 
first  place,  the  parents  of  these  children  will  have 
to  become  interested  in  sending  the  child  or  chil- 
dren to  the  Sunday-school,  and  have  them  to  un- 
derstand that,  in  case  the  child  or  children  fail 
to  attend  Sunday-school  after  they  have  been 
clothed  by  the  Sinking  Fund  Committee,  the 
said  clothes  are  confiscated. 

We  find  a  great  many  children,  though  com- 
paratively naked,  yet  they  refused  to  be  clothed 
by  that  committee  on  account  of  their  peculiar 
pride  or  feeling  of  independence.  I  have  seen 
some  of  those  children  who  came  to  Sunday- 
school  by  the  aid  of  this  committee  contribute 
one  cent  to  the  Sinking  Fund  within  one  month 
after  they  were  in  attendance  in  the  Sunday- 
school  themselves.  These  children  should  be  im- 
pressed that  they  are  the  future  Church  and  that 
all  the  cares  and  responsibilities  of  the  Church 
will  some  day  fall  upon  them. 

I  assure  you  that  this  organization  was  a 
great  success  and  is  to-day. 


116     What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

I  find  the  reason  why  so  many  Sunday- 
schools  stay  on  the  drag  is,  because  they  lack  the 
proper  interest  on  the  part  of  the  superintend- 
ents and  teachers  in  the  Sunday-school  work. 
The  superintendent  should  be  one  among  the 
first  at  Sunday-school,  and  always  on  time;  and 
when  the  time  comes  to  open  he  should  do  so  if 
there  are  only  three  present  besides  himself  or 
herself,  as  the  case  may  be. 

There  should  be  a  great  deal  of  singing  in 
the  Sunday-school;  such  songs  as  children  can 
sing,  and  fancy.  If  you  want  to  suit  the  child 
along  this  line,  sing  something  quick  and  lively. 
Poor  singing  in  Sunday-school  sounds  very  dis- 
couraging to  me.  Good  singing  will  keep  the 
Sunday-school  together  a  great  deal  better  than 
a  set  of  poor  teachers.  I  mean  by  that,  teachers 
who  will  not  study  the  Sunday-school  lesson, 
only  on  Saturday  night  or  Sunday  morning  just 
before  going  to  Sunday-school. 

The  teachers  who  look  over  their  lessons  in 
that  manner  can  not  interest  a  class  an  hour  con- 
cerning that  lesson.  But  the  teacher  who  reads 
the  connection  between  the  lessons,  and  reads  the 
lessons  as  well  once  a  day  the  week  through,  can 


As  a  Christian  Worker  117 

interest  any  class  an  hour  or  two  hours;  this  is 
what  experience  has  taught  me.  Teachers 
should  attend  weekly  teachers'  meetings  and  fa- 
miliarize themselves  with  "Moninger,"  or  some 
training  for  service  course.  Each  class  should 
be  numbered  and  designated  by  a  beautiful  card 
suspended  over  each  class  by  a  nice  and  neat 
little  chain,  and  these  fastened  to  a  rod,  mov- 
able, so  that  they  can  all  be  gathered  up  after 
Sunday-school. 

There  should  be  two  banners  in  the  Sunday- 
school  room:  one  for  the  primary  and  interme- 
diate classes,  and  the  other  for  the  Bible  or  ad- 
vanced classes. 

No  one  should  be  elected  as  superintendent 
of  a  Sunday-school  who  is  not  competent  to 
demonstrate  or  will  not  demonstrate  the  Sunday- 
school  lesson  or  lessons. 

The  superintendent  should  see  to  it  that 
strangers  are  cared  for,  make  them  feel  wel- 
come, and  place  them  in  suitable  classes. 

I  find  that  the  Sinking  Fund  Society  con- 
nected with  the  Sunday-school  does  a  great  deal 
of  good  to  those  schools  where  there  is  a  general 
impression  among  the  children  who  do  not  at- 


118     What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

tend  any  Sunday-school,  and  to  a  great  many  of 
those  who  do,  that  if  I  put  on  the  very  best  I 
have  or  am  able  to  get  and  go  down  to  or  up  to, 
as  the  case  may  be,  to  that  Sunday-school,  they 
always  make  fun  of  me.  I  do  n't  believe  that 
I  will  go  about  them. 

I  have  seen  some  Sunday-schools  where  the 
child  really  had  a  right  to  think  so.  I  have 
known  parents  to  fix  up  their  child  or  children 
to  send  them  off  to  one  of  the  Sunday-schools 
on  time,  and  the  child  or  children  would  only 
go  as  far  as  the  church  door,  and  pass  on  and 
play  until  about  the  time  Sunday-school  is  out, 
then  go  home  and  tell  their  parents  that  they 
had  been  to  Sunday-school. 

Well,  they  had  been  to  the  door. 

I  find  that  some  Sunday-schools  and 
churches  are  like  individuals  in  this,  that  they 
reach  the  place  where  they  become  selfish.  We 
should  ever  keep  before  us  the  exhortation  of 
the  Apostle  Paul  to  the  Ephesians,  "Be  ye  kind 
one  to  another,  tender-hearted,  forgiving  one  to 
another,  even  as  God  for  Christ's  sake  hath  for- 
given you."     (Eph.  4:  32.) 


Dr.  Thomas  William  Burton  having  the  connubial  knot  tied, 
August  3,  1893,  to  Miss  Hattie  B.  Taylor. 


People  Should  Think  for  Themselves 


CHAPTER  X 

PEOPLE  SHOULD  THINK  FOR 
THEMSELVES 

It  really  amuses  me  sometimes  to  see  how 
little  some  people  think  for  themselves,  espe- 
cially when  they  have  been  advised  by  one  who 
has  always  proved  to  be  a  friend  to  them.  Still 
they  put  their  business  in  the  hands  of  those  who 
deprive  them  of  their  substance.  At  the  same 
time  they  try  to  impress  one  that  they  are  very 
wise  and  honest  with  it. 

The  old  folks  as  well  as  the  young  ones  will 
do  likewise.  While  talking  with  one  of  these 
peculiar  people  on  one  occasion,  the  following 
verses  came  to  me: 

I  AM  NOT  MAD. 

I  am  not  mad,  but  very  sad, 

To  think  how  they  retreat; 
The  stylish  young  as  well  as  old 

Are  always  on  the  beat. 
121 


122     What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

They  heat  the  rich,  they  beat  the  poor, 
They  beat  their  supposed  friend; 

They  clamor  after  nonsense  things, 
And  get  beat  themselves  in  the  end. 

Their  debts  and  deeds  they  will  not  pay 
Unless  by  force  they  're  made; 

Hard  times,  they  say,  and  wages  low; 
Are  always  ashing  aid. 

It  *s  not  the  amount  which  makes  us  rich, 
But  it  is  what  we  save,  instead; 

Economy  is  a  noble  thing, 
Look  not  upon  it  with  a  dread. 

There  is  another  class  of  people  who  are  easily 
influenced  and  led  by  those  whose  very  inten- 
tions are  to  tear  down.  Yet,  while  those  who 
are  being  led  are  innocent  in  a  sense,  they  for- 
get to  use  their  own  common  sense  in  regard  to 
what  the  future  may  bring  to  them.  For  it  is 
certain  that  they  will  be  scattered  one  from  the 
other  by  their  own  doings  if  let  alone. 

God  deals  with  individuals  just  as  He  deals 
with  nations,  and  He  deals  with  nations  just  as 
He  deals  with  individuals. 


5  3 


5-  S 

-  re 

c  o 

9  - 

n  —• 

CO  > 


People  Should  Think  for  Themselves  123 

There  was  a  time,  before  the  flood,  when 
God  saw  that  the  wickedness  of  man  was  great 
in  the  earth,  and  that  every  imagination  of  the 
thoughts  of  his  heart  was  only  evil;  this  pro- 
voked God's  wrath  and  caused  the  flood.  ( Gen. 
6:5.) 

After  the  flood,  and  that  the  earth  had  been 
replenished,  the  people  had  become  prolific  as 
the  sand  of  the  sea,  generation  after  generation 
had  come  upon  the  scene  of  action,  the  whole 
earth  was  of  one  language  and  of  one  speech. 
They  became  so  prosperous  in  the  land  of 
Shinar,  luxury  and  earthly  pleasure  at  their 
command,  they  fancied  within  themselves  that 
they  would  go  to  heaven  in  their  own  way;  but 
God  said  to  the  Trinity,  "Go  to,  let  us  go  down, 
and  there  confound  their  language,  that  they 
may  not  understand  one  another's  sj)eech." 
(Gen.  11:7.) 

After  this  was  done  the  people  were  scat- 
tered abroad  from  thence  upon  the  face  of  all 
the  earth,  speaking  different  tongues,  pursuing 
different  vocations  for  a  livelihood,  and  they  be- 
gan to  mold  customs  peculiar  to  each  language. 


124     What  Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

Thus  God  showed  them  that  the  building  of 
Babel  must  cease. 

So  many  people  to-day  are  clamoring  after 
new-fangled  teachings,  running  pellmell  to  Sun- 
day baseball,  Sunday  park  amusements,  Sunday 
excursions,  and  many  other  unnecessary  things, 
— all  for  the  love  of  money. 

"For  the  love  of  money  is  the  root  of  all 
evil;  which,  while  some  coveted  after,  they  have 
erred  from  the  faith,  and  pierced  themselves 
through  with  many  sorrows."     (1  Tim.  6:  3-10.) 

If  individuals  cultivate  this  love  for  money 
to  the  extent  that  they  forget  the  Sabbath,  and 
do  not  hold  it  as  a  day  devoted  to  pious  medita- 
tion, a  day  intended  as  a  principal  testimony  of 
faith  in  the  Creator  of  the  universe,  they  too 
forget  the  brotherhood  of  man  and  the  Father- 
hood of  God.  If  they  persist  in  going  this  way 
they  shall  be  punished  according  to  the  fruit  of 
their  doings.     (Jer.  21:14.) 

If  one  has  a  great  deal  of  business  relations 
with  different  kinds  of  people,  that  person  is 
no  longer  disappointed  in  them  and  can  always 
read  them  aright.    Of  course,  we  have  no  power 


CT.  O 

3   3 


a  -i  S 

n  ao.  s 

&  o  ° 

*  3  - 


g  5   n. 

oo.  o   rf 

CT  B!  » 

o  <    rc 

■O    O-    " 

3  5? 

Q.   !/l  . 

-™     ~S     M 

2.  Co 

"   a>  o 


3  s 


People  Should  Think  for  Themselves  125 

of  penetrating  into  their  very  souls  and  seeing 
the  underlying  motives  which  are  at  work  there, 
but  we  can  see  and  read  enough  so  as  to  be 
warned  of  them  while  dealing  with  them  or 
while  being  in  their  presence. 

I  find  it  good  policy  to  always  speak  well  of 
a  person  unless  you  are  talking  to  that  person; 
if  so,  then  you  can  tell  him  or  her  just  what 
you  please.  When  Christ  was  here  upon  earth 
in  the  form  of  man,  mingling  and  dealing  with 
men,  He  always  spoke  of  the  highest,  the  best, 
and  the  truest  in  men.  We  should  always  hold 
up  and  keep  before  us  the  honor  of  our  great 
men  and  women ;  we  must  make  our  own  worthy 
history. 

A  few  months  after  the  death  of  Paul  Lau- 
rence Dunbar  there  was  a  day  set  apart  in 
Springfield,  Ohio,  for  his  memorial,  and  of 
which  I  wrote  the  following  verses: 

ALL  HONOR  TO  THE  DAY. 

All  honor  to  the  day  we  celebrate, 

Bedecked  as  it  is  in  flowers 
In  memory  of  him  who  won  his  fame 

Through  sunshine,  clouds,  and  showers. 


126     What  'Experience  Has  Taught  Me 

In  a  perpetual  tone  this  day  should  be  kept, 

Each  year  as  the  days  go  by, 
Fresh  in  the  minds  of  the  American  youth, 

And  its  purpose  should  never  die. 

Teach  them  it  Js  the  day  that  we  have  set  apart 

To  show  our  esteeming  love 
For  the  one  who  shoved  his  poetic  pen 

With  a  gift  from  Him  who  is  above. 

Teach  them  that  a  mighty  man  has  fallen, 
Though  young  when  he  left  the  stage; 

That  he  was  a  genius  among  his  fellows, 
He  was  a  monument  of  his  age. 

He  was  one  who  stood  erect  and  stalwart, 
Who  could  be  seen  near  and  far; 

He  was  master  of  his  situation, — 
All  honor  to  Paul  Laurence  Dunbar! 

May  this  memorial  be  an  incentive 

For  the  young  and  for  the  old; 
May  it  be  kept  alive  for  generations, 

And  its  interest  be  forever  told. 

May  it  be  told  with  growing  interest, 

Each  year  as  we  chance  to  meet, 
That  a  man  is  measured  by  his  worth  and  fitness, 

In  honor  of  such  is  a  day  we  keep. 


